What The Hell (If you're not in S10 of SPN do not Read)
by ChaosLilKat
Summary: Fourth Arrow/SPN Crossover: I am throwing in the Flash for fun. Ghosts appear in Starling City, Oliver calls in the experts. Sam and Dean figure out fairly quickly someone is summoning them. When the boys and Team Arrow follow all the trails and track down the summoner they come up against a problem and the solution is going to require a little extra speed.
1. Ghosts-Meet Arrow

(Author's note. This is current time, so Roy has been dubbed Arsenal and Dean has the Mark etc. I wrote this originally right before the Arrow/Flash crossover event in S3 of Arrow and S1 of Flash)

Oliver shouted, "Arsenal, around back!"

"On it," Roy replied as Oliver speed shot three arrows at the flickering images of brutalized people in front of them.

"What the hell?" Dig asked as one of Oliver's arrows went right through the image which faded only to reappear again directly in front of him and the temperature plummeted.

Oliver watched as Dig tried to block, then screamed in pain when the image touched Dig's head causing him to crumple to his knees.

"No!" Roy shouted, "Arrows are useless." He grabbed an iron pipe from off the floor of the abandoned building and threw it at the shadowy thing that was in front of Dig. The pipe flew through the ghostly apparition and it howled in pain and disappeared. Oliver looked down, spotted another pipe, grabbed it and in a matter of seconds dispatched the other two images and rushed back to Dig's side.

"What happened?" He asked as he crouched down and braced Dig who was cradling his head in his hands and panting in pain.

"I...I don't know. Cold, so cold."

Oliver put his shoulder under Dig's right arm and Roy took the left side. "Can you stand? Those things might come back."

Dig slowly nodded and shifted his weight, they helped him stand, Oliver's eyes kept checking the shadows as they walked back to Dig's car.

"I'm good now," Dig said as he took all his own weight, freeing up Roy and Oliver, "I think. I've never felt anything like that before. It felt like being electrocuted and flash frozen at the same time."

Oliver looked at Roy, the mask and the hood concealed most of his face but Oliver saw enough, "What were those things?" Roy asked. "They came out of nowhere."

"I don't know," Oliver conceded, "But I know some guys that will."

"Think Dean will let me drive Baby again?" Dig asked, a small smile on his face.

Oliver grinned in return. "If you ask nice enough, he just might. Felicity?"

"Making the call," Felicity's voice came over the earpieces. The phone rang twice and a groggy Sam answered.

"Hello?"

"Sam?"

"Who's this?"

"Oh sorry," Oliver turned off the device that disguised his voice. "It's Oliver."

"Hey," Recognition registered in Sam's voice, "Something going on in Starling? I doubt a 3am call from you is because you missed us."

"Yeah, this may be up your alley. Where are you guys at?"

"About a day's drive," Sam chuckled, "Oddly enough we were heading your way. There's been all these weird things happening in Central City. We were going to call you tomorrow and see if you knew anything about it."

"Oh, yeah," Oliver smiled at the thought of Sam and Dean meeting Barry, "The Streak, he's not up your alley. Neither are the other oddities going on over there. Look up an accident that happened about 10 months ago at STAR labs. Let's just say science had unexpected effects on people."

"Uh, okay," Sam replied, "Guess that clears those questions then. So, what's up?"

"There's been some reports of people getting attacked by ghosts. People they lost in the Undertaking. No one's been killed, yet, but there's been more and more reports. We decided to look into it and were sweeping The Glades when three apparitions came out of nowhere. Arrows and bullets went right through them, a cast iron pipe seemed to make an impact though. One of them touched Dig and he went down. He's fine but he said it hit him with intense cold. I was thinking this may be something you two would want to take a look at."

He heard a shuffling sound through the phone, and a grumpy, "What?" in the background. "Dean, wake up," Sam said, "Yeah, that sounds like our type of thing. Sorry Oliver, you'll need to trade in your arrows for salt shells. You could make your arrows old school style out of pure iron if you wanted to, or dip them in salt I guess."

"So you think they are actual ghosts?"

"Sounds like. Dean and I will get going here in a few and see you guys tomorrow some time. Have Felicity put together everything from the other..."

"What's your email?" Felicity's voice chimed in.

"Hi Felicity," Sam said.

"Hey Sam. I have them all ready to send to you."

"Course you do." Oliver could hear the smile in Sam's voice. "Send them to ghostkillerbaby10 at gmail. We'll go through them before we leave. In the meantime Oliver, iron and salt are your new best friends. My suggestion, stay away till we get there. Up to you guys though."

"Thanks for the tips. See you guys soon."

"Sure thing."

Oliver hung up and looked at Roy, his face had grown pale.

"Ghosts are real? Who are those guys?"

"Yes and long story," Oliver answered. "We don't have the tools or training for this. May as well wait till they get here. We'll fill you in when we're back inside."

"That's impossible!" Roy spluttered while he changed out of his Arsenal attire.

Dig sat down next to Felicity, "Have you met Barry Allen?"

"Yeah, but that was science. Demons? Angels? Ghosts? Those are just stories."

Oliver finished pulling on a long sleeved shirt to go with his sweats and started idly punching the heavy bag. "I used to think that too, but they're not. Trust me. If Castiel makes another appearance he will wipe all doubt from your mind on that one."

Felicity spun her chair around to face everyone, "Sam emailed back. They are on the way now. He said how these ghosts are appearing are different than what they have seen before. It's not the anniversary of the Undertaking and in general ghosts don't usually appear in different areas one right after another like this. They think someone may be summoning them. I am trying to collect traffic cam footage and see if anyone stands out that was by these places before the ghosts showed up. Needle in a haystack time I guess."

"Great," Oliver replied. He looked at Roy who was still trying to process the entirely new reality Oliver had thrust at him.

"So, these guys, Sam and Dean. They hunt these things? Why?"

"It was something they were born into," Dig replied, an odd note of regret in his voice, "They've had some rough times but they're good guys. You can trust them."

"It's not that Dig," Roy said, "I just, I mean, I don't really get it."

Oliver noticed Felicity had started to shake, "Felicity?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine. There's things in this world Roy, things that are truly evil. Not evil people evil, but pure evil. Sam and Dean, they fight them. What we do here, it's nothing compared to what those two have done. Trust me. We saved a city, they have saved more than that." She turned back to her computers, took a deep breath and started typing, the sound of her keys barely filling the silence that followed her words.


	2. The Cavalry Hits The Road

"Whoever is summoning these ghosts must be using some serious mojo," Sam pointed out as they pulled out of the hotel parking lot and headed into the night.

"He should have called us first," Dean grumbled, "He's lucky no one has gotten killed yet. Three or four ghosts at each place? Coven? No one person can handle that."

Sam shrugged, "Maybe. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"What was this accident he was referring to anyway? Science doesn't make people turn into gas, or move fast enough to make a sonic boom. Does it? If it does, I need me some of that." Dean looked at Sam, childlike glee in his eyes to match the huge smile on his face. "Dude, how easy would killing vamps be if we had super speed? Hell we could take out a whole nest in seconds and take the rest of the night off." The smile faded as his jaw clenched, "What I could do to Crowley with super strength."

"I looked it up, STAR labs built a particle accelerator that had some sort of accident. There was this huge shaft of light that shot up into the air but somehow no one outside of the facility was hurt." Sam frowned. "Something like that should have leveled the city, I guess they managed to channel it up instead of out. From what Oliver hinted at whatever was released by that accident is affecting people."

"Hey," Dean warned. He'd caught the hint of concern in his brother's voice, "If they're not undead, a monster or a demon, they're not our problem. We have enough to do."

"I guess. Still though, it would be kind of neat to see." Dean's previous excitement started infecting Sam, "Be a nice change of pace, they are still people, even if they have some weird powers. No lore, no research. Super powers would be kind of cool to have."

"Heh, as long as I don't have to wear a stupid costume," Dean replied, "Oliver's is bad enough."

"C'mon, you loved Superman when we were kids. You were always running around with a sheet cape back then."

"Sam. I was like eight. Everyone runs around with a sheet cape when they're a kid. It's required."

"I never did," Sam pointed out, a bit hurt.

"You didn't need to, your hair was long enough to be a cape."

"Shut up."

Dean hid the laugh, "Just saying."

"Anyway," Sam resorted to pulling the conversation back to more serious topics, "All the reports Felicity sent were from the last month. There's no correlation with that and the Undertaking, some of the ghosts aren't even appearing in The Glades where they died. The ones that popped up in the middle of the day? That's pretty rare too. I wish he had called us sooner, I've got a weird feeling about this. They are getting more frequent this last week, like someone is picking up steam or getting more confident with what they are doing."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Ghosts aren't really Oliver's thing so we can't blame him for ignoring it at first. It's been years since we've seen him. Sucks he lost his company to that guy. That had to be tough, especially with Felicity working for the new owner."

"Well, ghosts might be a good thing for us to be hunting right now," Sam hesitantly pointed out.

Dean sighed, "Why? I'm sure you're going to tie this to the Mark somehow."

"It's, look. Ghosts aren't people, so you're technically not killing them. You've been a bit trigger happy lately, less actual violence might be a good thing."

"Sam, I swear..."

"Don't start with me Dean. Just think about it. That's all I'm asking."

They stared at each other, neither one giving ground, or so it seemed. Dean looked away first, Sam noticed what his brother was trying to hide.

"Fine," Dean muttered. The tires swishing on the dark road was the only sound for the next few hours.

"Switch?" Sam asked as the sun started coming up. "I got some sleep over the last few miles."

Dean guided Baby over to the side of the road. "Sure."

They got out, stretched, walked around for several minutes and, as if in answer to an unspoken command, they slid back into the car without having to say a word. Dean slid down in the seat, leaned back and closed his eyes. Sam reached into the glove compartment, grabbed a pair of sunglasses and tapped Dean's arm.

"Here, we're driving into the sun."

Dean opened one eye, saw the glasses, took them from his brother with a slight nod, put them on and settled back down. "Thanks."

"Sure." Sam pulled his pair on, put the car in drive and pushed the pedal to the floor.

Baby's tires spun, Dean ripped the glasses off and glared at him, "What the hell!"

"For the hair comment earlier."

"Real mature Sam. Seriously."

Sam merely smirked in reply and eased off the gas. Dean closed his eyes, put the sunglasses back on and Sam could tell by his brother's breathing that he had dozed off. _Something about these ghosts is nagging at me. There's no deaths, nothing that would indicate a purpose for their appearance. If someone is summoning them, why are they doing it? Oliver said no one had been killed yet. Did that one attack Dig because they attacked it first? It doesn't add up. If Dean doesn't start talking soon I need to make him. I know what he is going through, why won't he let me in? He knows I know. He's so damn stubborn. It's not even pride anymore, that's long gone. After Kevin, whatever pride I had left, whatever delusions of control over myself I had was gone. All of this, the demon, everything. It's the one thing he always feared. Damn it. He has to let me in! I don't want to lose him now. Maybe I just need to knock some sense into him, literally._

The hours passed but no answers came to him. He pulled into another gas station and woke Dean up. "Hey. Get some food."

"What? Oh, we're stopping. I'll drive the rest of the way. I'm good now."

"Sure."

They walked into the gas station, grabbed the strongest coffee they could find, some snacks and got ready for the last leg of the drive.

"Sam?" Dean said as he started the car.

Sam recognized the tone, "Yeah?"

"You may have a point. I'm fine and all, really, but still. Hunting something that doesn't bleed may not be a bad thing."

"Do you.."

"Nope. I'm good."

_Knock some sense into him and soon. This has gone on long enough._


	3. Back Together Again

Oliver's phone rang, he rolled over on the cot and looked at the screen, "They got here fast." He muttered as he answered the call, "Hi Sam."

"It's Dean, we're about two hours outside of town. We'll need to crash for a few hours and get some food before we start checking things out. Don't suppose you still have the penthouse suite?"

"No, I live at the club now. Did you guys drive all night? It's not that serious yet, is it?"

"We heard about the company, sorry man. Yeah, we did. We're not liking how the pace of ghosts appearing all over the place has picked up the last week."

Oliver started pacing, "Thanks. Well that's comforting. You've got some options. Dig and Lyla have some space or I can tell you the best places close to the club."

"Lyla?"

"Dig's ex-wife, now girlfriend and the mother of his baby girl." A stunned silence followed.

"Uh. What? Wow. Things have really changed over there I guess."

"It hasn't been dull," Oliver acknowledged, "The criminals have been the least complicated part of the last few years."

There was a pause, then he heard Dean relay the information to Sam and a muffled reply from Sam. "If Dig's fine with us crashing there that's fine," Dean said, "If not, totally understand, we can get our own place. We don't want to endanger his family."

"Don't worry about that. Lyla can handle herself, she knows what we do. I'll check in with Dig, hang on."

Oliver put Dean on hold, and texted Dig who replied with "Lyla's fine with it. Tell them to come here."

"Dean?" Oliver asked as he took the call off hold.

"Yup."

"You can stay with Dig and Lyla. I'll text you the address, we'll meet there. She's a good cook, so's Dig. They'll have something waiting for you guys. Sound like a plan?"

"Thanks. Really." There was an undertone to Dean's voice, something about it seemed off to Oliver.

"Sure. See you in a couple of hours."

"Got it."

Oliver hung up, texted Dean the address and decided to make some more arrowheads. _It's been years since I talked to Dean but he seems different. _Sparks flew from the grinder as he carefully worked the edge towards razor sharpness. _Their lives are much more complicated than mine, who knows what they've been through. I just hope they got some time off. If anyone deserves some peace and quiet it's those two. I need to get Roy on track and soon. This guilt is going to eat him up if he doesn't try to come to terms with it. God, he's so young. Why the hell am I letting him get farther and farther into this life? I guess it's a better option than where he was headed but still. He could do something else, go to school, have a life. I should have told him no and pushed him towards Thea instead of giving him a secret that would rip them apart. Thea, I have no idea what's going on with her. We're both lying and we know it. So much for fixing that relationship. _He looked up at the empty chair where Felicity usually sat. _Not even going there. It's better this way, better for her, better for me. Grind arrows, stay focused. Keep everyone that's left in your life alive._

The hours crept along, his text alert went off. It was from Dig."They're here." _About time. I need to get out of here. _He grabbed his jacket, the keys to the bike and left. He immediately spotted Baby as he pulled into the parking lot where Dig lived. There was an open spot next to Baby, he pulled into it, looked at the Impala and smiled. _Damn, she's spotless. It's good to see her. _He ran his hand over the trunk as he walked past it and into Dig's apartment complex. Lyla answered his knock with a hug and a smile

"Hi Oliver. Come on in."

Dig's house had become his place of refuge over the last few months. The club held too many painful memories now, Sara's body, Laurel's sorrow, his own failures over the years. That place was for Arrow, not Oliver. He'd found that what was left of Oliver could come out around Lyla and Dig and baby Sara. He'd hoped he could find that with Felicity but he couldn't blame her for her decision. He'd made his and he couldn't expect someone as filled with life and joy as she still was to join his darkness and hide in a basement filled with the trappings of death and shattered lives. Dig and Lyla, they had their own darkness but together they had moved forward and now with their baby, there was joy and hope in their lives again. He was fortunate that they were willing to share a little bit of that with him. He had lost the ability to feel either joy or hope. If he couldn't have it, he could at least do everything in his power to protect theirs.

"Hey Oliver," Dean said as Oliver entered the living room.

"Welcome back guys," he replied as he shook their hands. _Looks like they didn't get any breaks at all. The years haven't been kind. They never are to people like us. _He spotted the concern in Sam's eyes and the nervousness in Dean's. _How could their lives have possibly gotten worse than the Apocalypse?_

_"_Oliver?" Lyla asked, "There's some food left if you're hungry. I made extra after John described those two to me. I see how much you and John eat so I made sure to have plenty."

"Hurry up man," Dean said, "I was waiting till you got here to be polite but you have about five more seconds before I get another helping. This is the best lasagna I have ever had!"

Sam nodded as he took another bite. "I'm with Dean on that. I've already had a second helping."

Lyla laughed, "I guess it's a good thing John ate earlier or there wouldn't have been anything left for you Oliver."

Dig was rocking his daughter to sleep in a chair in the corner of the room, "As soon as I knew these two were coming I figured they could use the home cooked food so I had a big lunch. Grab some Oliver, Dean's been eying the last two pieces pretty intently."

"Hold him back Sam," Oliver joked as he filled his plate with the larger of the two pieces and a roll. When he looked back at the brothers a smile broke out on his face. Sam was standing in front of Dean with his hands on his shoulders, miming holding Dean down.

"I've got him! Eat fast Oliver."

"Hey! You're supposed to be getting the last piece for me," Dean whined. "Since when are you on his side?"

"Since you ate three pieces already."

"Get off me, you traitor," Dean growled but there was laughter in his eyes.

Sam sat back down and finished his dinner. "Thanks for making this for us Lyla. It was delicious."

"My pleasure," she replied. Sara started fussing and Lyla took her from Dig, "She's hungry. I'll feed her while you guys discuss business."

Oliver watched the brothers as Lyla lightly kissed Dig and carried Sara down the hall to her room. _Do I look like that when I'm here? I hope not, I don't want Lyla and Dig to feel guilty because they're happy and I'm not. We've given up so much, the brothers and I. We deny our humanity to save the humanity in others. How is that fair?_


	4. The Boys Come To Blows

"C'mon Sammy, let's finish this game." He stalked through the halls of the Bunker, hammer in hand. All he felt was the desire to maim, kill, torture. He needed the feel of blood on his hands, to watch Sam beg him to stop, the sound of breaking bones, blood being coughed up. All the hours in that chair, the agonizing pulse of purified blood racing through him, devouring him, it was the thought of pulling Sam apart piece by piece that kept him going.

As the demon side weakened he felt the handcuffs lose their power, the Devil's trap no longer held him. He had just enough left to utterly destroy what was left of Dean. That weak, human, guilt ridden, worthless thing. He would put this strong, virile, attractive body to much better purposes than what Dean had done with it. Once Sam was gone, Dean's memories would wither and die, his soul would burn itself out in impotent rage. He just had to kill Sam.

_I smell him, love that fear._

He rounded a corner, and saw Sam looking the other way.

_This is it!_

Feet pounding on concrete, arm swinging with all it's strength, howling with glee, the hammer connected with Sam's injured shoulder. The delicious impact flew up his arm and Sam's agonized cries were the perfect accompaniment to the feel of bones breaking as he swung over and over.

"Dean! Hey! Wake up!"

His eyes flew open, Sam was standing a safe distance away, fear laced concern in his eyes. Dean's pulse was racing, the pull out couch Lyla had offered after Oliver ate and left to keep an eye on things was covered in sweat and his hands were balled into fists. Dig had gone to run some errands with Sara while Lyla went to work. Sam had taken the guest room and he took the couch, they both needed some sleep after driving all night. The sheets were in utter disarray and the few decorative pillows he'd just pushed out of his way so he could lay down had been flung several feet from the couch.

Sam stepped closer and handed him a towel, "What was that about?"

"Monster," he tried to shrug it off, "Hell, who knows. I don't remember."

He watched Sam's face flash through all the phases of concern and irritation that only Sam was capable of showing in less than five seconds as he dried the sweat from his face and chest. Sam would keep pushing, he knew it but he couldn't bring himself to tell him the truth. _Not after everything he went through to bring me back. I can't. The dreams, they're getting worse, more vivid, more violent. I see them when I'm awake sometimes now too. It's not gone. I just have to hold on a little while longer, after this job I'll tell him._

Sam walked to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, filled it with ice water and set it on the table next to him. "You know, it'd be great if for once you could actually be honest with me. I know we don't have a great track record with that but it'd be a nice change of pace." He started picking up the pillows and tossing them at Dean. "Get up, those sheets are soaked. We should at least throw them in the wash before Lyla and Dig get back."

He got up off the couch, downed the water and started walking to the bathroom, "Fine, whatever. I'm going to clean up."

"Damn it Dean!" Sam snapped, he was near the end of the patience. "Stop."

He didn't turn around. He couldn't look his brother in the face. Not when his hands were shaking and a cold sweat was breaking out on his face again.

"That dream wasn't about Hell or monsters. I have seen every variation of nightmare you have, I can tell by how much you move what the dream is about. Keep pushing it down, keep running. It won't help."

Sam stepped in front of him. _He's close to breaking, there's so much frustration in his eyes. I know he wants to help but he can't, no one can. Talking won't make this go away._

"Do you honestly think you're hiding anything from me? Do you think I can't see it?"

_Here it comes._

Sam's arms flashed out shoving him back a few steps. "What does this solve? You denying that you're hurting. That you have nightmares of what the demon wants to do. Do you think I don't?"

It wasn't the words that plowed through him, dragging up all the things he couldn't stand to feel. It was Sam's face, the unshed tears in his eyes, the lines of stress as Sam fought with either punching him or hugging him, the compassion that he had somehow still held onto even after everything.

"Lucifer was in my brain for months. You think whatever you see is worse than what I see when I sleep? Do you think I'll judge you in some way? That nightmare, we were in the bunker. Weren't we?"

"Sam. Later."

"No!" The next shove was full force, he tripped over a chair and stumbled backwards.

"Weren't we!"

_He has to let this go! _He put more force behind his words and took a step towards Sam. "This is not the time."

He wasn't ready for the fist that slammed into his stomach doubling him over as he tried to breathe.

"If not now, Dean, when? When you lose it and shoot someone other than a monster? Now answer the question or God help me I'll hit you again."

_Damn, he's not kidding. He hasn't been this mad in years. Oh hell._

He ducked out of the way as another huge fist came towards him.

"We were in the bunker," Sam snarled.

Sam's right cross flew towards his face, he barely managed to block.

"You were killing me."

The next hit took him on the chin, Sam had gauged it to glance off his face but he'd had enough. It was his fist that aimed for Sam's gut this time but Sam hopped back at the last minute.

"Leave it alone Sam!" _Time_ _to use Sam's sense of courtesy and respect for others against him_, "We don't need to trash Dig's place."

Sam paused, looked around and took a deep breath. "This is not over." He turned away and started stripping the sheets off the pull out couch and Dean resumed his walk to the bathroom.

_Not the best way to start a hunt, especially one with non hunters involved. I know I'm not hiding anything, I just don't know how to deal with this. I'm supposed to know how to handle anything._

The cold water from the bathroom sink felt good on his face, numbing the throbbing Sam's glancing blow caused.

_Good thing he didn't land that right cross. He wasn't holding back on that one._

He stripped out of his jeans and underwear as the water in the shower heated up. _Focus on ghosts. Nightmares can wait another few days. Who is controlling these things and why?_

Sam threw all the sheets in the washer and was half tempted to turn it on just to flood Dean's shower with cold water. _He deserves it. Stubborn idiot. He's never had a nightmare that bad, not even after he came back from Hell. It was his laugh that woke me up. Goddamn it was scary, just like a demon laugh. He doesn't even know how close to the surface these dreams are. Is he going to start acting them out in his sleep? I don't even think I can call it a nightmare, it was much more than that. The Mark must have kept hold of some of the demon side somehow. That or maybe the demon purification thing doesn't cure the demon, it just makes it sleep. That guy from the Men of Letters never had a chance to follow up on the demon he cured, and we didn't complete the ritual with Crowley._

The one thing he never thought he would feel, fear of Dean, started creeping it's way through him, turning his blood cold as it did. _I can't trust him._ He leaned his head against the laundry room cabinets. _I've always been able to count on his motives even if his actions were screwed up, now I don't even know if I can do that. How much of Dean is left? Damn, I understand how he felt when I was soul less. He never gave up on me, I sure as hell won't give up on him._

He heard the bathroom door open then Dean's footsteps returning to the living room. It took a large measure of restraint on his part to not wrench the wash machine knobs off as he turned them to the right setting and slammed his fist into the button to start the load.

_One day things will be easy, with our luck that means we'll be dead, again. It would be nice if we stayed that way for once. If nothing else it's less stressful being dead, says the man who hunts vengeful spirits. God our lives are screwed up._

He made it back into the living room just as Dig returned. "Morning, or rather afternoon guys, I can make coffee if..." As soon as Dig got a good look at them he slowed down and stopped walking, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, "Just talking about some family stuff. It's fine. We just woke up, coffee would be great. Thanks."

Dig nodded, headed into the kitchen and started the coffee pot. "Not sure what you guys are up to eating but we can grab something on the way to the Club. Oliver texted me that Felicity had gotten some hits on people who were at all the locations the ghost things had been at."

"That will help," Dean said, "Give us some people to go have a few chats with."

"Do you want Oliver or I to go with you?" Dig asked.

The brothers looked at each other, "Nah," Dean answered, "No offense but it will go faster if Sam and I go. We know what to look for and ask."

"All right. When you guys are ready we can head over."

"Coffee first," Dean requested, "Then I can think. I'm getting too old for this lack of sleep crap."

Dig chuckled, "I feel ya."

Sam and Dean got their caffeine fix, grabbed their gear and the three of them headed to the parking lot.

"So Dean," Dig said, "Any chance I could drive? I fell for her the minute I started the engine when we helped Sam. I've missed her."

Sam was shocked at Dean's reply. "Sure, you let us stay at your place. Why not?" He tossed Dig the keys and slid into the passenger seat while Sam got into the back.

"Thanks man," Dig started Baby, a huge grin sweeping across his face as the roar of her engine echoed through the underground parking lot. "Damn, I think she's even more cherry than last time I drove her."

"Been working on her," Dean replied as he leaned back and closed his eyes. Sam tried hard not to make his stare obvious enough that Dig would notice. _Never saw that coming. Something is seriously wrong with him._


	5. No Simple Jobs

They got to the Club, Dig punched in the code and they walked in.

"Branching out your look there Oliver?" Dean asked when he spotted a black and red suit. "Looks a bit small for you though."

"It's for someone else," Oliver answered, "He may or may not join us for this. Not sure he's up to dealing with ghosts yet."

"It's great to see you guys!" Felicity spun around in her chair, a warm smile on her face as she walked over and gave them quick hugs.

_"_Nice to see you too," Sam said as he returned her hug.

"Hey girl," Dean joined in, "Keeping these guys safe still huh?"

"Someone has to," she replied with a wink and returned to her usual spot. "So here's our possible ghost summoning people. Why you would want to summon one ghost is beyond me. I mean, it's not like they can do much for you."

"Right," Dean said, "Ghost 101 for you guys. Listen up. Ghosts can kill, they can move things, sometimes they can communicate, they are unpredictable and usually violent. This isn't Casper we're hunting. Think more slasher horror movie, but the slasher is dead and can disappear instantly, hurl things at you from across the room and then gut you for kicks."

"Not all ghosts are like that," Sam clarified. "But if this person is summoning ghosts from the Undertaking they may have unresolved rage which is what makes them violent."

"Right, so PMSing ghosts," Felicity muttered.

Dean laughed, "That works too."

"Who are our possible summoners?" Sam asked.

"Here you go," Felicity pulled six photos up along with their pertinent information. They scrolled through the options.

"Wait, this one." Oliver pointed at a young woman, "Cynthia. She's from Central City."

"Yes, why?" Felicity asked then paused. "Oh, that's not good."

Dig and Oliver exchanged glances. "Could that even happen?" Dig asked.

"I hope not." Sam stated.

"What?" Dean asked.

Sam took a seat next to Felicity, "Can you guys tell us more about this whole Central City thing?"

"I went there a few weeks ago," Felicity said, "The accident released this stuff called Dark Matter which has changed a bunch of people. The Flash.."

"Oh?" Oliver asked, a small grin gracing his features, "They're using that name now? That's interesting."

"Yes. Why?" Felicity queried.

"Nothing, continue."

She shot Oliver an odd look and resumed her thought, "He can run hundreds of miles an hour, other people seemed to have been combined with something. One was in the death chamber being gassed and he can shift his form to gas now. There's been others too."

Sam's curiosity took over, "What are they doing with these people?"

"Uh...um, I'm not sure I should get into that."

"Oh great," Dean rolled his eyes, "Another 'secret' vigilante crew then?"

Felicity shrugged helplessly, "Sort of."

"You're definitely a trendsetter Oliver," Dean sighed "Wow. Okay. So the theory is that this Cynthia chick could be Dark Matter powered somehow?"

Oliver shrugged. "Could be. It would explain the fact that this is weird, even for you guys."

"Great." Dean slumped into the last chair, "Just what we need."

"Dean, the usual stuff may not even work in this case."

Dean held up his hand as he shook his head, "Hold up Sam. How about we figure out if this is even the situation before we go making things worse?"

"Yeah, good point," Sam conceded. "Is she still in town?"

Felicity's fingers danced across the keyboard, "She's checked into a hotel about ten miles away. As far as I can tell she's still there."

The brothers gave each other a small nod, stood up and headed towards the door. "We'll chat with her and see what we can find out," Dean said.

"Dean, I really think we should back you up on this," Oliver pointed out.

"Not our first rodeo," Dean bristled, Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Dean looked up at Sam who raised an eyebrow in response. "Let's do this," Sam offered, "Felicity, can we get some of those earpieces? You guys can stay out of sight. If the earpieces start giving off static or get cut off you'll know things have gone sideways and we probably need a hand. We'll need to change into our Fed threads before we head out anyway."

"Fed threads?" Dig asked.

Sam sighed, "We have fake FBI badges. Just don't ask what names we go by. Dean picks them, that's all you need to know. We throw on some suits and ask questions. The badges let us talk to cops when we have to go to morgues and get case files."

Felicity blanched as she covered her mouth with a hand, "Morgues?"

"Yup," Dean replied, "Monsters tend to leave some pretty distinctive handiwork on corpses. Where can we change?"

"Bathroom's up the stairs to the right," Oliver answered. "We'll get you set up while you get dressed."

Dean waited until they were outside, making sure to prop the door open so they could get back in, "Why? We've got this."

"This is Oliver's city," Sam replied, "He has contacts with the police, he knows the area and he asked us here. Just because he hasn't hunted ghosts doesn't mean he's useless, same with Dig. C'mon, they handled the demons we took down just fine, they're not amateurs."

"And?" Dean asked as they grabbed the suits out the trunk.

"And, if this is some super powered summoner we don't know what we're dealing with either. You saw what Felicity sent, this is not normal witch stuff or hauntings."

They pulled the door open and went upstairs to change. "Like our job needs to get more complicated," Dean muttered.

Sam pulled off his shirt, "Tell me about it."

"So, you think we should go in loaded for ghosts? Iron bullets, salt shells in the sawed offs? All that."

"Yeah. I have a feeling if we don't we'll regret it," Sam answered.

"Great."

As they walked back down the stairs after they changed, Felicity looked up then quickly looked away.

"She's so cute when she's embarrassed," Dean remarked.

Memories of his stay at the Lake House and the meals they cooked flooded Sam's mind, "She's just cute in general."

Dean caught the wistful tone in Sam's voice but chose not to pursue it. They'd both given up on relationships over the last few years. _Sorry Sam, it's just not in the cards for us I guess._

"Here guys," Felicity handed them earpieces.

"We won't wear them just in case the ghosts blow them out, it could deafen us." Dean said, "But we'll leave them on an open channel so you guys can hear what's going on. Let's go Sam."

Sam nodded and they walked away.

"Taking the bike?" Dig asked Oliver.

"Yeah, follow in your car. Usual set up. No need to suit up for this. Keep in touch." They chose a few weapons and took different routes to the hotel where Cynthia was staying.

As soon as Sam's knuckles touched the door to knock he knew something was wrong. "Cold," he warned Dean.

"Cynthia Schultz," Dean said, "We just need to ask you a few questions. Are you in there?"

They waited, there was no reply, Dean grabbed the knob and almost yanked his hand away. It was so cold it burned. "What the hell?" He muttered. The knob turned and they shoved the door open. There was nothing in the room even though the air was frigid.

They stepped inside, as soon as they cleared the door it slammed shut and a disembodied laugh echoed in the confined space. The earpieces in their pockets squealed and hissed loud enough that they had no problem hearing them. "Good thing we weren't wearing those," Dean said.

"We can't let them get stuck in here with us," Sam pointed out.

"If the door even opens," Dean replied. "All right Cynthia or whoever's here. What's your play? The whole laughing thing isn't all that terrifying."

The dresser slid across the room and they jumped out of the way, "Yeah, seen that one too." Dean continued, "C'mon. Show me something new!"

Six spirits manifested around them, all of them appeared calm even though it was obvious that their deaths had been tragic. Then Cynthia appeared out of thin air, sitting calmly on the bed and staring at them. She was in her early twenties and very petite. Striking blue eyes stood out against her pale skin, straight elbow length hair that was half green and half red was plastered against her cheeks, concealing the shape of her face as she looked at them. Black painted lips curled into a bored, overly confident smirk.

"Okay, that's new," Dean congratulated her as he eyed the spirits. "Neat trick. We're impressed."

A solid thump landed on the door. "Dean? Sam?" Oliver's muffled voice barely made it through the door.

"Oh bother." Cynthia said with a yawn. "It's a pity I have an engagement elsewhere and dealing with all four of you would take too long."

Bullets pierced the area around the door knob and the thumping resumed to no avail.

"Well that's just rude." Cynthia muttered, she looked at her watch, which appeared to be an an antique wind up version, grunted and rolled her eyes. "Sorry handsomes, gotta fly." In the blink of an eye her and the spirits were gone. The door burst open, Oliver and Dig barely stopped themselves from falling into the room and the temperature soared back to normal.

"Well," Sam said, "I think that confirms the Dark Matter theory."

Dean ran his hand over his face, "Once, just once, I would love a job that was simple."


	6. Hunters and Horrible Aliases

"Don't suppose she's a demon?" Dean asked, "We know how to handle that. They teleport."

Sam stared at him, "Really?"

"What?"

"Ever seen a demon summon six ghosts?"

"No, but there's a first time for everything," Dean replied, a tinge of desperate hope in his voice. "No? Fine. Superpowered summoner it is."

Oliver pointed at the bullet riddled door, "Perhaps we should have this conversation elsewhere? Response time here is about six minutes and we're down three."

Sam nodded. "Good point. See you back at Arrow HQ then."

After taking a rather round about way back to the club they settled in while the brothers filled them in.

"Wait, she teleported?" Oliver asked, "Like Castiel?"

"Yeah," Dean replied, "She could be a rogue angel."

Felicity's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Rogue angel? They have those?"

"Cas is technically one." Sam pointed out, "Then there's Lucifer."

"Why would they be here?" Dig asked.

"Well when Metatron slammed the doors to heaven..." Dean started to explain and was greeted with blank stares from everyone but Sam, "Never mind. Too complicated. Let's go with they got temporarily relocated here and some don't want to go back."

"Doubt it Dean," Sam countered, "All the angels we've come across have never done anything like this. She's not bringing souls back and putting them into bodies. She's calling ghosts, not only that, they aren't fighting her. Only time I've seen this is..." he trailed off.

"What?"

"Ava, but she summoned low ranking demons, not ghosts."

Dean's face stilled as the memory of holding Sam's corpse to him came back. "Azazel's dead and she's not the right age. Ava didn't teleport either."

Oliver, Dig and Felicity were at a complete loss for words. Finally Dig spoke, "Is there any way we can narrow this down? I mean, we can throw holy water at her and see if she burns. If not, she's not a demon."

"True," Sam replied, "My gut is telling me that she's not though."

"Mine too. Unfortunately."

"Hey guys?" Felicity interjected. "There's something going on, it's a small tech firm." She flicked through some screens and pulled up a traffic cam across from the building, people were streaming out of the building and although there wasn't audio it was pretty evident they were running in fear.

"People are calling the cops," she continued, "Listen." She pushed a button, panicked voices filled the air as the911 dispatch feed came through the speakers

"They're, I don't know!" A woman's shaky voice came across first, "I can see through them, Oh Lord..."

Another call came over, "I just saw my daughter," a man's breathless voice, "but she's dead. How?"

"Send someone! Anyone!" A panicked, shrill female voice made them all jump, "They're going through walls! Stuff's flying everywhere! Help!"

"Where is this?" Oliver asked.

"35th and Vine, the cops are on the way."

"Damn it!" Dean snarled, "They're out of their depth here."

Oliver's eyes went cold, "Sam, Dean. We can get you there in eight minutes. If I keep the cops out of the way can you do something?"

"Yes," both brothers replied instantly.

"If nothing else," Sam continued, "We'll clear the ghosts out without anyone else getting hurt. Cynthia is another story."

"One situation at a time," Oliver stated as he picked up his phone and dialed. "Captain? The situation at 35th and Vine, keep your men away." He paused.

"Arrow? What the hell is going on? It's a bit early for you to be up and about isn't it? " Lance snapped

Oliver ignored the sarcasm, "Trust me, this is something you can't handle, I'm sending some men to help."

"Wait? You're sending men?" Incredulity overtook Lance's irritation at Oliver giving him orders. "You can't handle this either is what you're telling me."

"It's not my area of expertise, no." Oliver conceded. He knew he was pushing his luck but he hoped whatever trust he'd build up with Capt. Lance would stretch far enough. "What's in that building, it's not human. Listen to the 911 calls. It will take them about 8 mins to get there, they're tall, in suits, they both have brown hair. You can't miss them. Give them time, please."

Lance sighed, "Their names? I'll assume they're fake."

Oliver looked at the brothers and mouthed, "Names?"

Dean nodded, the brothers handed their fake badges to Oliver. "Just use the first name." Dean said.

Oliver glanced and the badges, winced and shook his head. "Sam and Dean, Sam's the taller one." Then he held up his hand in response to Dean's glare.

"Fine, they get fifteen minutes, starting eight minutes from now." Lance hung up.

"How the hell have you two made it this far with such horrible aliases?" Oliver asked. "Agents Joe Walsh and Rick Fender? Really? Felicity?"

"It will take me five minutes," she replied.

"Dig, take them and their gear. I'll get there with the new badges as soon as I can," Oliver saw Dean was about to contradict him. "Dig knows the fastest way, your car stands out too much and you're not leaving in a day or two. Cynthia has to be stopped and she won't be easy to track down. My way gentleman, it's the only way that will work right now."

Dean's jaw tightened but he nodded, "Fine. Let's roll."

Dig and the brothers left. Felicity went to work on crafting new badges with the name Sam Miller and Dean West. It didn't take long as all she had to do was scan in the badges, change the names and print out new ones. She handed them to Oliver who slid the old ones out, put the new ones in then bolted out the door to his bike.

"Well, we wouldn't have been able to go this way that's for damn sure," Dean said as he gripped the handle on the passenger door and braced himself for another corner. Dig had taken them down alleys way too narrow for Baby and she didn't exactly corner well. "You still in one piece back there Sam?"

"Barely," Sam replied before pushing hard against the back of Dean's seat to keep from being flung to one side.

Dig slowed as they came to the end of another alley into a main street, he spotted a gap that was just big enough for him to cross the four lanes of traffic and make it across to another alley. "Hold on."

"Jesus!" Dean yelped as horns from an oncoming cars blared. "It would help if we weren't killed before we got there. Just a a thought."

"You've got your wish," Dig replied, "We're here."

Dig maneuvered the car through the last bit of the alley, pulled onto the street and parked just before he got to the police barricade. They heard the rev of a motorcycle engine as it pulled up next to them.

Oliver tapped on the driver side window, Dig rolled it down and Oliver tossed the new badges at Dean, "Here, You've got fifteen minutes. Captain Lance is the guy standing to the right of the cruiser in the front giving orders. Good luck."

"Great, thanks," Dean muttered as he and Sam got out and grabbed their gear from the trunk."Screwiest case we've ever been on!"

"Yeah, seriously," Sam replied, "Let's go."

They were stopped at the barricade, "We're here to see Captain Lance," Sam said. "He knows we're coming. Tell him Sam and Dean are here, please."

"Badges?"

They pulled out the new badges, the cop glanced at them, "You got here awfully fast for FBI. We don't even know what the situation is."

"Well it's a good thing we do then isn't it?" Dean drawled.

"Cortez," the man Oliver had pointed out as Lance called out as he walked up to them. "It's fine. Make sure the media and anyone else who's curious stay back. Got it?"

Cortez didn't take his eyes of the brothers, "Yes sir. Whatever you say." He gave them both another long look and walked away.

"I'm Captain Lance," Dean reached his hand out but Lance's quelling stare made him drop his hand back to his side. "Not sure why you need shotguns for something that we aren't trained for but our mutual friend hasn't steered me wrong yet. Get in there."

"Thank you Captain," Sam said as they ducked under the police tape.

"You want walkies?" Lance asked.

"They won't work if whatever scared these people is still there." Dean answered. "We're good. Let's go Sam."


	7. Meta What?

"We should have brought our winter coats," Sam said as soon as they walked through the doors. There was a thin sheet of ice on the interior of the windows, hard drives, monitors and lights were sparking and flickering.

Dean signaled for Sam to case the room they were in as Dean headed down the hall. A desk lamp flew across the room, Sam spun, spotted the ghost of a child and fired, wails of pain erupted from the corners of the room. "Dean!"

"You hurt her!" A male ghost shrieked as it flung Sam into the wall.

Another shotgun blast echoed through the room and the male ghost faded, more screams assaulted their ears.

"Damn it! Sam?"

Sam pushed himself away from the wall, "I'm good. What the hell? They care about each other? This makes no sense."

"So, do we not shoot them now?"

Sam was about to answer as three more ghosts charged them, instincts took over. His finger squeezed the trigger three times, the ghosts vanished and they ran down the hall.

"Why is she here? Of all places?" Sam asked.

"Have no idea," Dean replied as he looked around the corner before they ran down the next hall, "She already knows tech and ghosts don't mix, that watch she had on proves that."

"It's getting warmer," Sam pointed out, "Hold up." They stopped in front of the directory on the wall. "Server room's down that way. She could be there. Maybe she's using the ghosts to clear people out while she hacks into something?"

Dean briefly lowered his shotgun in disgust, "Now that's just plain nuts. Using ghosts to help you steal crap?"

"Why not?" Sam's head tilted to the side as he ran the scenarios of how ghosts could be used for something like this, "It's actually pretty clever." They reached the server room door.

"Lovely. Door locked?"

"Needs a badge to swipe in. She could just teleport in there."

"Thanks for the reminder." Dean muttered.

Sam exhaled, his breath turned into fog, "Uh oh."

"You shot them! How dare you!" Cynthia popped up behind Dean. Sam watched as she concentrated and raised her hand, "You'll pay for that assholes!"

Dean spun around, aiming the butt of his shotgun at her head, something cold gripped his hand and every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire. He dropped to the floor, unable to speak or even move.

"Dean!" Sam fired his gun but the shell passed through empty air as Cynthia disappeared again. He yanked out a box of salt from his pocket and sketched a quick circle on the floor around he and Dean. Three spirits appeared in front of him, two women and a man, they started pacing around the circle. He reloaded and looked at them. "Let's try to talk this out. Who are you? Can you understand me? Can you speak?"

"Sam," Dean croaked, "Shoot them."

The ghosts reacted as one to Dean's words, ice coated the walls as anger and rage filled their faces.

"Shut up Dean, you're not helping." _She knows that we shot them, she knew there was four of us at her hotel. She's connected to them somehow, controlling them even when she's not here. _"Cynthia? I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I'm Sam, the guy on the ground is my brother Dean. We're sorry we hurt them but they attacked us first."

The smaller female ghost fixed him with an irritated glare, "We threw a lamp at you and slammed a door, that's hardly an attack. You had guns, remember?" The voice was oddly overlaid, Cynthia's snark filled anger didn't quite mesh with the ghost's hollow voice.

"Fair enough," Sam acquiesced, "But a friend called us after one of your ghosts hurt someone he knew and you've been scaring people for weeks.

"Ghosts? That's what they are to you?" The framed, cliché, motivational posters started rattling on the walls around them. "They are people! They talk to me, I help them, they help me. Can't you see that?"

Sam nudged Dean's leg with his foot and risked a quick glance down. Dean's leg pushed back against his foot and he raised his head enough for his green eyes to flick to the ghosts then back to Sam. Dean raised an eyebrow. Sam shook his head ever so slightly, Dean lowered his head and continued to act like he was still in pain, even though he wasn't.

"They were people Cynthia." Sam continued. "They're not anymore."

"Shut up!" All the lights in the hallway sparked and flickered at the same time and the badge reader on the door shorted out, "What?" Cynthia's voice faded for a moment and the ghost she was speaking through looked down the hall. The male ghost looked as if it was being forced to try to take a step forward but it couldn't cross the salt. "Salt? Why?" Cynthia's voice was back again. "Who are you?"

"People who know how to deal with ghosts," Sam replied. "They have limits. They should be at rest, not being controlled by you."

"Huh," The female ghost Cynthia was speaking through turned and pulled a picture off the wall, "They can't cross the salt but other things can."

"That works both ways," Sam said as he fired in rapid succession hitting all three ghosts, the lights in the hallways exploded. He tried the server room door again, it opened. "Dean! Go!"

"Got it." Dean flung himself into the room, Sam was right behind him, covering their moves with the shotgun. Sam slammed the door shut and poured another line of salt across the door then he tossed the box to Dean, "Here, fire exit."

"Done."

Sam pulled out his cell, _No service. I hope one of these landlines still work. _He was shocked when he heard a dial tone as he put the phone to his ear. He pulled up Oliver's number in his cell and dialed it.

"Hello."

"Hey, we have a problem here. She's linked to the ghosts somehow, they are tracking what's going on for her among other things. I want to get her out of this building and get her somewhere where the odds are more in our favor."

"Lance is getting edgy," Oliver replied. "Your time is almost up."

"We know." Thumping sounds started coming from the hallway door. "We're going to be bait."

Dean threw his arms up, "Wonderful."

"Call Lance, tell him to give us five more minutes, we'll clear the building. She's so pissed at us right now she won't care about the cops."

"Got it." Oliver answered, his voice calm, "Sure you know what you're doing?"

"No," Sam admitted, "But she's changed the rules. Just do it."

"Five minutes." The line hissed and went dead.

"This is your plan?" Dean asked.

"Got a better one?"

The door started to buckle inwards, "Not at the moment," Dean growled. They reloaded one last time, Dean stood by the fire exit, hand on the handle.

"Ready?" Sam asked.

"No, but we'll pretend I said yes."

Sam fired four rounds into the hall door, deafening shrieks swirled around them, Dean almost yanked the fire exit door off it's hinges when he opened it. They ran headlong down the hall firing at every ghost they saw. The shrieking lessened and fewer and fewer ghosts were appearing as they got closer to the back door.

"She running out of juice?" Dean asked.

"Maybe."

Just before the reached the door Cynthia appeared, blood running down her nose and her face contorted with pain, "You! I will kill you."

Dean raised his gun and pulled the trigger, there was a soft click and Cynthia winked. Sam fired, his gun wasn't empty, but she was already gone.

"Whatever she wanted she got," Sam said.

"What makes you think that?"

"That wink."

Dean pushed the door open, "Huh, you're probably right. How the hell are we going to stop her?"

"No idea," Sam admitted.


	8. Best Laid Plans and Stuff

They came within thirty feet of Dig's car when Captain Lance's voice rang out, "Stop right there you two!"

"Perfect, just perfect," Dean growled as he turned around. "Yeah?"

Lance stormed up to them, "There's salt all over the place. What were you shooting at? Flies? Large bugs?"

"Captain, it's complicated," Sam replied.

"No, what's complicated is my SWAT guys saying they saw lamps flying around for no reason and the windows icing up. How do we know it's safe in there?"

_We don't have time for this. _"If the lights flicker, sparks start flying or it feels like the AC is on Arctic setting, it's time to leave," Dean instructed in a much harsher tone than what was called for.

"Listen Dean," Lance snarled, "If that's even your name, I've got traumatized people that need to know they are safe now. If we don't bring someone out of that building in cuffs they are going to think there's still a threat."

_Lance was on the ground, face swollen and bruised. He held Lance's gun, barrel pointing directly between the Captain's eyes._

Sam's hand squeezed his shoulder so hard it interrupted the vision. He came back to himself halfway through Sam's explanation

"... say it's some sort of environmental hazard that made people hallucinate."

"They're not going to buy that!"

"Look," Sam replied, "I understand the position you're in but the longer we sit here and argue the more time the person that's doing this has to get as far away from here as possible. The building is safe, call in some Hazmat people or something. Lie. You work with the Arrow, I'm sure you've done that before."

Lance's eyes narrowed at Sam's statement but he took a deep breath. "You have a point. Get out of here. Tell him to keep me in the loop."

"We will, thank you."

Lance shook his head and strode off, shouting orders to his men.

Dean started to walk away but Sam's didn't let go of his shoulder. "Uh, kind of hard to walk when you're Vader gripping my shoulder Sam." Sam's brittle, simmering eyes nailed him to the ground much more effectively than the death grip Sam had on his shoulder.

"Where'd you go? You weren't here anymore and wherever you were, you were about two seconds from taking out Lance."

"Not now and taking a swing at me won't help anyone."

"You're not safe, Dean."

"I'm fine."

Sam dropped his hand but the tension didn't leave his face, "Next time we're alone, we're talking. End of story." He pushed past Dean and walked away.

_I'm past help but he'll never see that._

They made it back to Dig's car, "So?" Dig asked.

"She's nothing we've ever come across before," Sam answered. "And that says a lot."

"Meta human then."

"Meta what?" Dean asked.

"It's what the Central City crew are calling the people affected by the Dark Matter."

Dean craned his head around to look at Sam, "Remember what I said? Not undead, not a monster, not a demon?"

"She's summoning spirits Dean," Sam retorted. "It's our job."

Dean sighed and looked back out the windshield, "I had a feeling you'd say that. Back to Arrow HQ then. May as well try to figure out how to stop her."

The drive back was much less adrenaline infused and it gave Sam time to think. _He completely checked out, he wasn't even here. Thank God Lance didn't pick up on the mood shift. Part of me wants to leave him out of this hunt. They are too many people at risk now. Oliver and his crew have no clue how screwed up he is. He won't back down though, I'd have to knock him out, cuff him and tie him up. This Cynthia, meta human? How are we going to stop her? We can't trap her, she teleports. We have to figure out some way to cut her off from the ghosts. By herself I don't thinks she's much of a threat. She wields the ghosts like weapons. _He mulled over a few theories the rest of the drive. As they pulled into Verdant's parking lot he had a half baked idea.

They filed into Oliver's new home and Sam and Dean relayed everything that had happened.

"She sounds pretty unstoppable," Felicity said. "If she can communicate with ghosts and teleport? Anywhere we put her she can just either teleport out of or call ghosts to her to free her."

"I have an idea," Sam said. "I have no clue if it will work though."

"Something's better than nothing, which is what I got." Dean responded.

"The Bunker,"

"Which is a few thousand miles away last time I checked," Dean pointed out. "Plus I don't think it's warded against people teleporting. Angels, demons and ghosts, sure, but not people."

"Hear me out," Sam said, "There was some books in the Bunker that theorized about people who could teleport, that they had to know where it was they were going and where they were in relation to that. They can't just send themselves through a wall without knowing what's on the other side." \

"What's the Bunker?" Dig asked.

"Home." Dean said, it still felt odd to say that word.

A brief smile crossed Sam's face, "It's probably the safest place in the world for us."

"Let me guess," Oliver said, "Another long story?"

Sam chuckled, "Do we have any other kind? Short version, it's warded against everything, nothing gets in unless we want it to, or out for that matter. It even has a dungeon of sorts."

Felicity pushed her glasses up farther and cocked an eyebrow, "That's not in the least bit creepy."

"We fight monsters," Dean reminded her, "It makes sense."

"So, you're thinking you get Cynthia there, lock her up, keep her blindfolded so she can't teleport and these ward things prevent her from talking to ghosts." Oliver said, "Then what?"

"Yeah, hadn't gotten that far yet," Sam admitted. "No regular jail can hold her though."

Oliver, Dig and Felicity exchanged a long look. "Will it work?" Oliver asked.

Felicity shrugged. "The cells have windows, she's from Central City so she's got to know where it is, and it's not exactly ghost proofed."

"Have we switched topics?" Dean asked.

"Sort of," Oliver replied. "Where they are holding the others like her. It's pretty advanced."

"Tech and ghosts don't mix," Sam reminded them, "If the ghosts get in it will fry their tech." A thought hit him. "I think she might fry tech too. The temp plunged whenever she showed up. If she's connected with the ghosts she must be tapping into their energy as well. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Dean pulled his suit coat off and looked around, "Got any beers in this place Oliver?"

"Yeah, upstairs. Anyone else want one?"

Sam raised a hand, so did Dig, Felicity shook her head. "Be right back," Oliver said as he headed towards the stairs.

"Thanks man, we can't keep her at the Bunker, Sam. We're gone for months at a time. Who's going to feed her? If we're looking at this as our kind of job it's usually only got one ending. You know that."

Sam shifted uncomfortably in his chair. This was a whole new twist on their line of work. "She's not a monster, Dean."

"Really? You come to that conclusion before or after I got electrocuted ghost style?"

"Wait, you're talking about killing her," Felicity said. "The accident, it turned her into this. She's not evil."

Oliver walked down the last few steps into Arrow HQ and handed Dig a beer. "You want to kill her in my city?" His voice was just this side of threatening. "You'd better be damn sure there's no other option here."

"What went down today," Dean said as he took a beer from Oliver, "We've never seen or heard of anything like that ever before, and we've seen a lot. The longer we wait to deal with this the bolder and stronger she'll get. She threw at least twenty ghosts at us before she wore out. Not one of those spirits seemed to be fighting her control." He popped open the can and took a long drink. "Unless you want an entire army of ghosts roaming the streets, we need to stop her now."

"Oliver," Felicity snapped, "She's the same age as Thea and you want to kill her."

"Age has nothing to do with it,"' Oliver's face went blank, they all knew that was a bad sign, "I wasn't that much older when I was snapping necks on the island. She's fully aware of what she's doing, that's what matters. I do want to try to contain her first, find out her motivations. Maybe she can be saved."

Dean sighed and shook his head, "You're putting more people in danger that way. Where are you going to hold her? She'll teleport way before an arrow hits her."

"Iron keeps ghosts away, right?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah."

"I know an abandoned iron works, deep in The Glades. We can stick her in one of the big blast furnaces, there should be enough traces of iron left in it to keep the ghosts at bay, then we put salt all around the entrances. Between the iron and the salt the ghosts shouldn't get far. We just have to get her there, if she's beyond hope then you two do what you have to."

"It could work," Sam said, "We can ward the place as well. I packed the books with those spells in them just in case."

"How are we going to catch her before she teleports?" Dean asked.

"Net arrows," Oliver replied.

Sam shook his head. "Won't work, unless you stun her too. As soon as that net thing hits her she'll take off."

"I've got stun arrows too."

"Seriously?" Dean scoffed.

"Trying to lower the body count. It's the one thing that allows me to work with the cops instead of running from them."

"All right," Dean drawled, "Let me get this straight. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and guess that Sam and I are your distractions while you shoot your fancy arrows at her, trapping her and knocking her out. Then we're going to somehow transport her to these ironworks, stick her in an old furnace and you're going to talk her into being an upstanding citizen?"

Oliver drained the last of his beer, "Basically."

Dean looked at Sam, hoping for some back up but Sam just shrugged. Dean rolled his eyes, pounded the last of his beer and slumped against the wall. "Well, nothing can go wrong with that plan. Sign me up."


	9. A Flash of Inspiration is Needed

Felicity looked at the men, "Sam? You said she knew there was four of you at the hotel right?"

"Yeah?"

"But she was inside and only saw you two. She can talk through any of the ghosts and seems to be able to see what they see, sort of like how I use security cameras to watch Oliver and Dig. Do we know just how many ghosts she can access like this?"

Dean's eyes narrowed, "No and I'm not really liking where you're going with this."

Felicity rubbed at her temples, not seeming to like where her thought process was taking her either. "How many ghosts are there?"

Sam and Dean shrugged. "It depends on if they stayed behind for some reason or moved on," Sam answered.

"Not necessarily," Dean countered. "If she was a psychic before this she could contact people beyond the veil, not just vengeful spirits. We both know souls don't just get stuck in heaven or hell and can't be contacted or brought back."

The brothers looked at each other, Sam closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. "True. Damn."

"Guys, I'm not following you on this," Dig admitted.

"What Felicity does, " Dean explained, "except take away cameras and replace them with anyone who's ever died that's willing to talk to Cynthia. A supernatural surveillance network."

Dig's eyes grew wide, he looked at Felicity's monitors, then her and then back at Sam and Dean. "Oh, that's not good."

"Nope," Dean agreed.

"If she's plugged in to multiple spirits when we try to trap her they could tell her that Oliver was sneaking up on her while Dean and I were playing bait," Sam stated, "Hell, a spirit could be listening to us now for all we know."

They all looked warily around Arrow HQ.

"Crap, good point," Dean grumbled as he pulled out an EMF detector, turned it on and walked a quick circuit around the room. It clicked a few times but didn't squeal with any high EMF values. "Clean so far."

"So now what?" Oliver asked.

"We need something she can't see coming," Sam said.

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other. "We could ask," Oliver said.

Felicity shook her head, "I'm not sure he's ready for this."

"All he has to do is get her to the iron works," Oliver stated, "We can handle the rest. I'll be in the furnace with the stun arrow set, he drops her in front of me. I stun her, we blindfold her and go from there."

"You know he won't just leave after that."

Oliver looked away, "That's his choice Felicity. I'll strongly suggest he leaves after he delivers her. He's taken my advice before."

Sam and Dean watched the exchange with ever growing curiosity. "Care to fill us in?" Dean asked.

Felicity stared at Oliver, saying nothing. A hint of regret crossed Oliver's face as he looked away from her and at Sam and Dean. "The Flash. He could grab her and carry her to the iron works in a blink of an eye. I'm not exaggerating. They've clocked him running speeds in excess of seven hundred miles an hour. I think he broke the sound barrier a few weeks back. She shouldn't be able to teleport or call any spirits while going that fast."

"Oh this I gotta see," Dean said with a smile, "It takes a lot to impress me these days, that may just do it."

"Wait," Sam countered, "What did you mean he's not ready for this? What type of guy is he?"

"He does forensics for the Central City PD," Felicity replied in a quiet tone, "When the accident happened he was struck by some sort of lighting, was in a coma for nine months and one day just woke up and was able to move at hundreds of miles an hour among other things. He's not like you, any of you," she paused, gauging her words, "He's like me." Intense concern filled her face, "Oliver, he's so new to this. I just..."

"He's new but look what he's managed to do so far," Oliver said. "How many people he's saved. No one put him up to that. This should be easy for him compared to some of the other things he's dealt with."

Dean pushed off the wall and tossed his empty beer can into the trash, "Take it he's never dealt with ghosts and monsters before."

"Not sure," Oliver replied, "But since he can do the impossible and has taken down several other meta humans that can do things just as unbelievable as he can, he'll probably handle it better than most." A mischievous grin made a brief showing on Oliver's face before it went blank again. "He's enthusiastic if nothing else."

The brother looked at each other, Sam spoke first, "It's your call. You guys know him. If he can do what you say he can it'd lessen the risk..."

"And be cool to see," Dean finished.

Dig, Felicity and Oliver exchanged a long look. "We have to ask," Oliver said.

"Fine," Felicity sighed, picked up her phone and typed something. "He's on the way, should be here in less than an hour."

"Isn't Central City six hundred miles from here?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Felicity replied.

"I'd better unlock the door," Oliver said. "You guys want another beer while we wait?"

"Sure," Dean answered.

A little less than forty minutes later a huge gust of wind swept through the room and a man in a dark red suit with a lighting bolt on the front appeared next to Oliver.

"Oliver!" Dean shouted as he reached for his gun.

"Dean, meet The Flash."

The Flash waved and smiled, "Hi guys. Sorry about that, Felicity said it was important."

Dean put his hand over his chest and took some deep breaths, "A little warning would have been nice. Holy crap!"

Sam pushed his hair out of his face, Flash's man made windstorm had thrown it all in his eyes. "Uh, hi."

Dean put his gun away and took a longer look at The Flash, "Spandex? Really?" He started chuckling, then doubled over laughing.

Sam covered his eyes with his hands, "Dean..," Exasperation turning his brother's name into several syllables instead of just one.

"What Sam? Look at him," Dean gasped out in between waves of laughter.

"It's not spandex!" Flash retorted. "It's a friction resistant polymer...,"

"Flash," Felicity stopped him with a weary look on her face, "Let it go. He drives a beat up old car, he wouldn't understand."

Dean instantly stopped laughing. "Hey! She's spotless!"

Sam winked at Felicity and chuckled.

Dean glared at both of them. "At least Oliver's costume blends into things at night, it makes some sense. People could spot you a mile away."

"Dean, by the time you spotted him a mile away he'd be right next to you," Oliver pointed out, "He doesn't need to blend. He just ran six hundred miles in less than an hour. Think about it."

"I, uh...okay. Good point," Dean acquiesced.

"Hi Dig," Flash said.

"Flash," Dig nodded in return.

Felicity got up and hugged Flash, who returned the gesture and Sam and Dean noticed there was a bit more to the hug than they would have expected. Oliver looked away and the brothers picked up on an odd undercurrent in his expression and stance. Sam looked at Dean, a silent question in his eyes. Dean raised his eyebrow, frowned and sighed. They had both had to make the same choice in their lives, love or their desire to save others.

Felicity and Flash ended their hug and Flash walked up to them with his hand out. Sam took his hand first. "Sam, this is my brother Dean. He's a bit of a jackass sometimes but he's a good guy deep down."

They shook hands and Flash smiled, "It's all right, not everyone can have their clothes made specially for them in a lab; I understand the confusion, especially from someone who still listens to tapes."

"How?" Dean snapped.

"I noticed the tape deck in the Impala on my way in," Flash answered. "Oh, and check your alignment, your tread isn't wearing evenly."

"Thanks, I think." Dean took the hand Flash extended to him. Flash's smile was so genuine and open he had to smile back. "Nice to meet you, Flash."

"You too Dean." Flash turned around and looked at Oliver, "So, what's going on?"


	10. The Choices We Make

Sam took the plunge and told Flash everything that had happened, their theories and what they needed him to do. To his credit Flash didn't panic or immediately discount what Sam said.

"Ghosts are real?"

"Yes."

Flash lowered his head, the earlier laid back attitude he had shown them disappeared. "She can talk to them? Do you think..."

Sam looked at Dean who pursed his lips and looked away. "Flash?" Sam asked

"I, nothing."

Felicity crossed the room and put her hand on Flash's arm, "We don't know if she can reach certain ones, she may just be using the ones that are closest to her."

Flash nodded and looked back up at Sam and Dean, "Let me see if I understand this. You want me to carry her into an old furnace at a shut down iron work, then leave her with you two and Oliver while you decide if she's worth saving or not?"

"That's the plan," Dean said.

"No."

The entire mood of the room shifted as Dean walked into the center of the group and pointed at Flash. "Here's the deal kid," all traces of humor left Dean's voice, everyone in the room stilled as he continued, "Ghosts kill, we've seen them work their way through entire families. They can drown you in a sink, shove you through wood chippers, rip you to shreds, electrocute you and drive cars right over you. This chick gives them an even greater edge because she can get them to work together. You're all damn lucky she hasn't killed anyone yet, but she will. It's just a matter of time."

Flash, to everyone's surprise, didn't back down, "Exactly. She hasn't killed anyone which means she can be talked to. It seems to me that if she's gotten more violent it's because you two shot the ghosts that she thinks are friends."

"We shot the ghosts because they were terrifying a whole office building full of people," Sam reminded him.

"Terrifying, not attacking," Flash said.

"That's it," Dean snarled and took a few steps to stand toe to toe with Flash. "I'm done. Sam and I have been dealing with things like this our entire lives. You know nothing about what opening yourself up to supernatural energy like she is does to a person. It warps you, twists you, you do it long enough, you're past the point of saving. The only way to put vengeful spirits back to rest is digging up the corpses, salting and burning their bones. If she keeps stirring these things up we may end up spending weeks researching each one, tracking down where they're buried and digging them up. You planning to help with that? Well?"

What they could see of Flash's face paled and he took a step back from Dean. "No, I..," he stammered.

"If she unleashes twenty angry spirits on a hospital and kills a bunch of kids, or hell, whole floors of people, you going to explain to the cops and the families what happened?" Dean pressed. "We've seen ghosts do that too."

"I..."

"Dean, that's enough," Sam said.

Dean didn't even turn his head, "No, it's not. It's not nearly enough. I don't know what made you choose to get into this life but this isn't some game where you play dress up and show off your special skills. This is life or death, every damn day. Your choices mean the difference between one person dying or a lot of people dying. Chick controls ghosts, chick is using ghosts as weapons, chick has crossed a line and she has to pay the price. It's that simple." Dean raked his eyes across the rest of the group, no one moved, "Now you guys can sit here and debate philosophy and who's life is worth more all damn night but Sam and I have work to do. Oliver, where's this iron works? Sam and I will go prep it. Then we track this chick down and end this."

"How do you plan to track her down?" Oliver asked, his voice completely calm.

"She's not the only one who can summon ghosts," Dean answered, "I figured we'd ask her friends to relay a message to her."

"Summon a ghost, tell it where we are, have Flash about a mile away, she shows up, he grabs her, sticks her in the furnace and we go from there?" Sam theorized.

"Exactly," Dean replied.

"That would work."

Oliver nodded, "I agree." He grabbed some paper and a pen and wrote down the directions to the iron works. "Here," he handed it to Dean.

Flash looked between Oliver and Dean, "Wait, I haven't agreed to this yet."

"Sam, Dean. Go," Oliver said, "Let me talk to him."

"Fine by me," Dean replied. "Let's go Sam." Dean headed up the stairs, Sam gave Flash an apologetic look and followed Dean.

Oliver waited until the door closed, "I don't remember Dean being that on edge before."

"He wasn't," Dig agreed. "Whatever he's been through lately hasn't been good. He's barely holding on and Sam knows it."

"Damn it! Those two didn't need any more tragedy in their lives. Sorry about that Barry."

Barry pulled back his mask, "Who the hell are those guys? Dean's almost as unstable as the people we put in jail and you want me to help them? No way."

"Technically so am I," Oliver pointed out, "Especially when you first met me, but you helped me. Saved my life."

"Yeah, but he's not even looking for alternatives. He just wants to kill her and be done with it."

Oliver looked around as he gathered his thoughts. He took a seat across from Felicity and gestured for Barry to sit. "Sam and Dean hunt monsters, demons, their father did it as well. He dragged them all across the country and trained them from when they were toddlers on how to hunt the things that we all think don't exist. Demons came here a few years back." Years later a chill still went down his spine when he thought about that day, the sliced up kids, the blood. "You don't know much about the years I was gone but trust me when I tell you that I thought I had seen the depths of evil during that time. I was wrong. I thought when I found out about the Undertaking and who was behind that, including my mom, that was as evil as people could be. Then I saw a demon and realized that all those people I thought were evil weren't even in the same league. The brothers? They barely flinched at the thought of dealing with sixty of them. That's how many were here."

"So they're tough. That doesn't mean they're right or sane."

"It's not about them being tough," Oliver continued, "You can't understand until you go through it but I trust them. If they say this girl has to be killed to stop this, as much as I don't want to take another life, I'll listen. Look, of all the meta humans you've met since the accident, how many have tried to do the right thing?"

Barry looked away, "One, but she gave up and basically killed herself."

"I know you want to try to help people that were affected by what happened, I understand, I do; but remember what I told you when you first asked me what you should do."

"That the lightning chose me so I could help others."

"Exactly." _He's so young, so naïve and innocent still. I hope the darkness I feel every day never touches him. Of course, the next thing I am going to say is going to push him that much closer to it. Will it ever end? _"I learned how to kill people, I was trained to do it and when I first came back here with my original mission that was the plan. Work my way through a list of bad people and be done with it. Dig showed me another way and I took it. I tried to help a few people that I should have stopped the minute our paths crossed. My own need to save myself blinded me to what the people really were and almost got me killed. People that have some good left in them, in the end they have to save themselves. The brothers have been through more hell than a person should have to deal with in a hundred lifetimes, maybe even a thousand. If they say someone is beyond saving, I trust them."

"But how can they tell. They don't even know her!"

Oliver crossed the room and placed his hand on Barry's shoulder, "The same way Felicity could tell that she could trust you that night you saved my life. Sometimes, you just know. I'll be in that furnace with them, I'll try to talk to her but if she is beyond saving, we have to do what needs to be done. She's too powerful to lock up, even at STAR labs."

Barry's greenish blue eyes gazed up at him, Oliver saw him struggling with what he'd said. _How many times have I been in the exact same spot he is now? Wondering if what I am doing is right or even needed? He works with the police, that must make it so much harder because this goes against everything he believes in. Going outside the law to protect others. Ah, the moment of choice. He's going to help, even though it sickens him on some level. The sad thing is, he respects me, God knows why. If he only knew._

"I'll do it. You have to promise me you'll try to save her."

"You have my word." _Whatever that's worth these days._


	11. Soulsearching and Summoning

Sam waited until they got to the iron works since he had to guide Dean through the streets of Starling City. They parked the Impala in a torn up parking lot next to a beat up chain link fence, grabbed their gear and hopped the fence.

"She better be there when we get back." Dean muttered, "This is not the safest place we've ever parked her."

"We won't be that far away, we can trade off keeping an eye on her. I don't want to get stranded out here either," Sam said.

They started unpacking the gear, Dean grabbed chalk and started drawing wards on the walls. "Go find the furnace while I do this. Let's see what we're dealing with."

_Now or never,_ Sam thought. "Hold up."

"Now what?" Dean snapped as he kept drawing.

"A little rough on Flash weren't you?"

"Sam, I'm getting real tired of you turning everything I do into proof that I'm going dark side. He's a kid, he shouldn't even be doing what he's doing. He needed a reality check, I gave it to him. End of story."

Sam nodded, "Reality check? That's what you call it? Okay, how about Lance."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

Sam moved so he was in the way of Dean drawing the wards, grabbed the chalk from Dean's hand, dropped it, grabbed his brother's shirt, spun and slammed him into the wall. As soon as Dean's back hit the wall Sam saw it, seething violence swimming in Dean's eyes, utter lack of caring about himself or others and a mocking, sick look as Dean fought it down.

"Bullshit." Sam snarled, "I'm damn sure Dig and Oliver saw how bad off you are and I barely trust you with a gun. You want me to let you into a confined space with a chick that's controlling ghosts and who knows what else with Oliver and a rank amateur helping us. Think again."

"Fine, do it yourself then!" Dean shoved Sam back but Sam refused to let go and slammed Dean into the wall again.

"I don't want to do it myself! I want you to let me in!"

The seething violence in Dean's eyes gave way to utter desolation.

"What do you want me to tell you? That I have dreams of killing you almost every night! Of slamming that hammer onto your skull over and over again and laughing while I do? That for a second I saw myself standing over Lance while I pointed his gun between his eyes? That you didn't save me Sam, you just prolonged the inevitable. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes!" Sam let go and stepped back, Dean sagged against the wall. "That's exactly what I want to hear."

"For God's sake why?"

"Because if you tell me what's going on we can work on it together. If you keep it all shoved down it doesn't solve anything."

Dean looked away and stared off into the distance, "How did you..."

"Did I what?"

"Deal with everything you've been through, with Lucifer, Gadreel, all of it. We never talked about it. I never asked, I should have. I just didn't know how...I mean..."

"By not blaming myself for what I did. Yes, it was my hands that killed Kevin, but it wasn't my choice. When I broke the wall and Lucifer came through, the thoughts and things he made me see, they were his, not mine. The only things I will own up to was what I did when I was soul less, there was nothing else controlling me. It was me, just without empathy and compassion. Was I cold? Sure, hell I was a sociopath, but that's a part of everyone." Sam took a breath, Dean's walls were crumbling fast now. "Take anyone's soul away and that's what you get. That's what a demon is Dean, it's the side of a person that no longer cares about anything."

"I tried to kill you Sam. You, of all people. If Cas hadn't.." _I can't say it, I just can't. _He roughly wiped the tears that rose up in his eyes away and fought the wave of nausea that his self disgust triggered.

"Of course you did. I'm the one thing that keeps you human, just like you keep me human. Once I found out what happened I was actually surprised you didn't come after me sooner. Did it ever occur to you that you left the note and the Bunker because you knew that the demon side wanted to kill me and you fought it?"

He looked back at Sam, "I guess, I don't... I just remember waking up, knowing something was wrong and that I needed to leave."

Sam picked the chalk up and handed it back to his brother, "Dean, you told me to let you go. You tried to get as far away from me as possible. I was the one that tracked you down and forced the conflict. Not you. You trying to kill me, that was the demon's last gasp at trying to take over, not you."

Dean looked at the chalk, not sure what to say. "I would have."

"No, not you, it would have. There's a difference, besides we don't know that," Sam offered, "What I do know is you tearing yourself up over it isn't helping. The nightmares? They could be the Mark, they could be your guilt or they could be from a dormant demon. We're in uncharted territory here but if you don't tell me what is going on with you we're going to miss something important and we can't afford to do that." He put his hands on either side of Dean's face and stared into his brother's eyes so there would be no mistaken his intent. "I did not go through all of that hell bringing you back to lose you again because you're too damn stubborn to talk. You're not past saving, you're not worthless and you better suck it up and start fighting or all that crap you're afraid of making you go dark side, will. Got it?"

Dean lowered his eyes, Sam wasn't having any of that. He dropped his hands to Dean's shoulders and shook him, "Hey! Got it?"

"Yeah," Dean mumbled.

"Don't make me tear out the tape deck and force you to listen to my Ipod non stop."

Dean's eyes snapped back to his and a rough, weak smile broke out on his face, "Don't you dare douche her up."

"We got this?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "We got it."

Sam smiled, pulled his brother close, "Remember what you told me back at the church, the last trial?"

"Yeah." Dean answered.

"It goes both ways. Just let it go. Please,"

"I'll try. C'mon Sam, we've got work to do."

"Yeah."

They stepped back from each other and returned to drawing wards. Sam chose to help Dean instead of checking the furnace, Dean didn't object.

After they finished warding the walls they headed into the iron works. Two flashlights clicked on as they pressed farther into the gaping emptiness.

"This place is huge," Dean said. "Where the hell are the furnaces?"

"No idea," Sam admitted.

Dean's flashlight moved over a rusted metal sign fastened to the side of a brick structure. "Hey, over there," He picked his way across the detritus filled floor and rubbed the dirt and grime away, "Furnace 1." "Bingo,"

"It's brick," Sam said.

"Let's check the inside."

The worked their way around to the front which was a gaping maw that stood about eight feet high, the door hung from it's hinges. Dean pulled a small magnet out of his pocket, placed it close to the walls and instantly felt the pull of the residual iron on the magnet. "Iron. We're good. We can put wards on the outside for an extra kick."

"Sounds good," Sam replied. "We should check in with Oliver and see what Flash decided."

"He's in," Oliver's voice came from the shadows making the brothers jump. He stepped into their flashlight beams and they saw he was in full Arrow attire.

"We didn't hear your bike," Dean said.

"Dig dropped me off a few blocks away, I wanted to recon the area and do a sweep tonight before we tangle with Cynthia again. Love what you've done with the exterior walls."

Sam smiled, "Protective graffiti."

"We can do this now if you're all ready." Dean offered, "I don't want to redraw all that if someone comes through and decides to redecorate."

Oliver nodded, "Flash is about two miles out, waiting for my signal. I'll tell Dig to circle back."

"The wards should keep them out," Sam said, "Even from the broken windows and who knows what other entrances this place has. Dean and I will lay salt around the furnace in case. We brought double stick tape, I figured this would be a good test of Felicity's idea from last time."

Their flashlights glimmered off of Oliver's teeth as his smiled, "I'll watch my step just in case. Let's get started then." He put his hand to the center of his chest and pressed on something, "Dig come back, Flash be ready."

"Oliver, keep back until after you give Flash the signal," Dean suggested, "Just in case she messes with tech, would suck if we lose her because you can't talk to him."

"Don't worry, I've got a back up plan for that."

"Flare arrow?" Sam asked.

Oliver chuckled, "Something like that."

The three of them walked back out of the building, grabbed the salt and tape and Oliver pitched in with the salt laying. Once they were done the brothers hopped the fence and stood next to Baby's trunk. Sam drew some symbols on the ground, grabbed some herbs put them in a bowl, lit them and started reciting Latin.

"Arrow," Dean said, "Get back by the door. I don't want the ghost to see you, let's not give anything away if we can help it."

Oliver nodded and faded into the shadows. Sam finished chanting, seconds later the temperature around them dropped. "That was fast," Dean muttered.

"Yeah, too fast." Sam replied.

Dean edged closer to the unlocked trunk of the Impala where the loaded shotguns were. "Here we go."


	12. There's Always One

A small boy ghost appeared, it looked like his right arm and ribs had been crushed by a falling object. He silently stared at the brothers.

"We're looking for Cynthia," Dean said.

The ghost remained mute.

Sam took a shot, "We'd like to meet with her, here. We really don't want to keep hurting you or her but she has to understand that what she's doing is dangerous. Talking through you, controlling you, it's not right. You should be at rest and she needs to stop getting herself into trouble before things go too far."

The hollow look left the ghost's eyes, "Liar, they told me what you are. You're hunters." Cynthia's voice was faint but there was no mistaking the anger.

The brothers exchanged a quick glance and Dean edged even closer to the trunk.

"True," Sam admitted. "We do hunt monsters and ghosts but only if they're hurting or scaring people. If they're peaceful, we will be too. Cynthia, listen. Stirring up these spirits like you are, they will get stronger. Too strong for you to keep them in line. We've seen what happens when spirits become vengeful, people die. We're trying to prevent that from happening. We just want to talk."

A small wind picked up and the hand the ghost could move curled into a small fist, "No you don't. You want to judge."

"What gives you the right to control these spirits?" Dean asked, "Do you think they like to be your puppets?"

"I don't force them to do anything they don't want to!" Cynthia snapped.

"Really?," Dean countered, "You tried to force one to cross a salt line."

A few images tried to flicker into existence around the brothers but they heard a gasp from the boy and the other images disappeared.

"Still hurting from before huh? Here's the deal," Dean continued, "Two choices: You, not your ghost puppets, come talk to us or we hunt you down, take you and every ghost that's helping you out once and for all. We've got time to kill and have no problems burning and salting bones all week to put these things back to rest if we have to."

The ghost flung his head back and shrieked, a howl filled with unfathomable loss and fear echoed through the empty lot. It started to flicker and shake it's head. A small voice, not at all like Cynthia's started to speak. "They'll do it. Do what they say!"

The ghost faded and Cynthia appeared.

"Thank..," Sam started to speak but a red streak of light flashed past them, the gust of wind almost swept them off their feet and Cynthia was gone.

"Holy shit!" Dean yelled as he grabbed three shotguns from the trunk and he and Sam ran into the iron works. "That was so cool."

"Hell yeah it was," Sam agreed.

Oliver barely made it to the furnace in time. As soon as the ghost started to panic he started backtracking, when Cynthia appeared he gave Flash the signal and started running. A red streak passed by him, he pulled his stun arrow out of the quiver and nocked it while running. Flash circled the interior of the building once to give him time and as soon as he got to the furnace, Flash blew by him and Cynthia solidified inside. He fired the arrow, the current ran through her and she went limp. The net arrow followed instantly, it landed and deployed the net. By the time the brothers got there he'd just finished blindfolding her and Flash was standing next to him.

"Thanks for taking the extra lap," Oliver said.

Flash shot him a brief smile, "No problem, you move pretty fast."

"Coming from you, that's a rather large compliment."

"I'm officially jealous of you Flash," Dean commented as he stepped into the furnace. "Super speed, awesome man, just awesome."

"It has it's perks," Flash replied then grew serious. "I'm only here because Oliver trusts your judgment. I can get her away from here just as fast as I got her here. He promised me that you would try to talk to her first. I want your word Dean or she's hundreds of miles away from here in a second. Well?"

Dean looked at Sam who's face was oddly blank. _He's leaving this up to me but he'll back my play. It's a test, but then again, isn't every job we've ever done. " _I was a bit rough on you back at Arrow's place. I could have explained things with a lot less force. It wasn't aimed at you and I'm sorry. Whatever you may think of Sam and I, we aren't cold-blooded killers, we don't like having to take lives." He gestured at Cynthia, "Even the lives of monsters, we've just been doing it so long and seen so much that we usually only see the worst case scenario. We've learned over the years that most of the time hoping for a different outcome usually backfires in the worst way possible. We'll give her a chance to explain herself, that I promise you," He locked eyes with Flash, "I won't promise you that we won't have to kill her, if not today, at some point in the future. If we do give her a chance Flash, you have to realize that she may not want to do the right thing."

"I know, but she deserves a chance to explain herself, get a hearing before we pass a verdict," Flash replied.

"She'll get one," Dean solemnly agreed, "My word on that."

Flash nodded. Dean placed a shotgun at Oliver's feet and he and Sam took the other two. The brothers splashed some water on Cynthia and she started moving.

"Not a demon then," Sam said.

"Didn't think she was but never hurts to check," Dean replied. "Rise and shine kid."

"I can't see, can't see!" Cynthia cried.

"Relax, you're blindfolded," Sam explained. "We didn't want you to teleport at the first chance you get."

"This is how you talk to people! Tie them up and blindfold them? Bastards, just wait," Her face tightened as she tried to call her ghosts. "I can't hear them, can't reach them! What have you done?"

"We're hunters sweetheart," Dean said, "We know how to keep spirits out. So, time to talk."

She struggled against the net, flung her head back and forth trying to loosen the blindfold, the brothers waited.

"Yeah, not going to work but we'll just wait for you to figure all that out. We've got all night."

She kept fighting a few minutes longer and finally slouched in defeat, "Fine. You haven't killed me yet so what do you want to know."

"How and why?" Sam asked.

She flung her head back and started laughing, "Seriously? How? The stupid accident. Why? Because I can."

Dean looked at Flash who looked away, his lips drawn tight with tension.

"Details please," Oliver requested. "What were you doing the night of the accident?"

"Huh, gang's all here I guess. I'm a medium, a weak one but I used to hold seances for people as a way to get extra cash. Sometimes it'd work, sometimes it didn't and then I would make some story up to keep the clients happy. I was holding one when the accident happened. Ever since then it's like the spirit world and I are one. I can tap into the spirits as easy as breathing. I know what they know and I can move like they do. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me." An arrogant, slightly dangerous, lazy grin tugged at the corners of her mouth, "You have no idea how much spirits know and how much people will pay for that information. At first I just stuck to seances and one on one exclusive sessions for the very rich or very distraught, then I got other, more interesting offers. The spirits are lonely, they don't care what I ask them to do as long as I talk to them. Some of them even get some closure and move on. I make money, make people and ghosts happy. Everyone wins."

"What about today?" Sam asked, "What was that all about?"

"Sorry, client privilege," She replied with a smirk.

"I don't think you fully understand your position here," Oliver said, his voice deadly calm. "Dean?"

Dean nodded and put the barrel of his gun against her head.

"Oh I get it," she replied in an utterly disinterested voice, "You're deciding to let me live or not. Isn't that right Oliver Queen?"

Dean and Sam looked at Oliver who's eyes narrowed but he didn't show any other hint of surprise, Flash had to stop himself from saying anything.

"The spirits here know who you are. I figured you were less of a threat than the Streak guy back in Central City but I guess you two are working together. I know he's like me, the accident made him too. I wasn't expecting these hunter creeps either. No matter."

"Oliver! Move!" Sam shouted as he saw something appear behind Oliver. Oliver hit the ground, Flash moved and Sam fired.

"What the?!" Dean snarled.

"Someone must have died inside the building." Sam answered.

Cynthia started giggling, "Good guess. He's pretty cranky too."

Dean was flung away from Cynthia and his gun went flying.

"That's better," Cynthia continued. "I wasn't as weak as I let on darlins."

The ghost that Sam had seen lurking behind Oliver reappeared right in front of him, he tried to fire but the ghost put it's hand on his throat and he couldn't breathe. Next thing he knew he was flying through the air. As he arced towards the ground a searing pain shot through his leg ripping away the breath he had so desperately needed after being strangled. If that wasn't enough he landed with such a tremendous impact his head bounced off the concrete sending another jolt of nausea inducing agony through his skull.

"Sam!" Dean screamed as he rolled across the ground reaching for the shotgun but Oliver was way ahead of him, a shot rang out and the ghost disappeared. Oliver looked back into the furnace but Flash and Cynthia were gone.

"What is he thinking?" Oliver growled.

"Oliver," Dig's voice crackled in his ear. "Flash just went by me. What's going on?"

"Get in here, Sam's hurt and I have no idea what Flash is doing."

"On my way." Dig answered.

The only reason Sam was still conscious was the incredible pain tolerance he'd cultivated over the years. He could feel the blood gushing from his leg. Once he could breathe again he ran his hand down his leg and felt a jagged piece of metal jutting up through his thigh. "That's not good," he muttered in between hissing, pain filled breaths. Dean's flashlight hit his eyes and he winced.

"Damn it!" Dean muttered as he wrapped a rag around Sam's leg and tightened it down. "Let me look, take it easy Sammy."

Sam groaned as Dean shifted his leg. "Good news, what's in your leg isn't attached to anything."

"Bad news is I can see your breath," Sam whispered.

"On it," Dig's solid, fearless voice came from above them. "Grabbed one of the shotguns. Oliver, you and Dean carry Sam, I'll cover you. Felicity's setting up the medical supplies back at the club."

"C'mon little brother, time to move, sit up. We'll carry you."

Sam sat up, Oliver and Dean slid their arms under his legs and behind his back as he wrapped his arms around their necks.

"Up," Oliver said. They got him up in the air and moved as fast as they could out of the building while Dig fired at any apparition that appeared.

"Once we get out the salt across the entry should keep that guy inside," Dean informed them. "Guess I get to ram a fence with Baby, we can't get him over."

"Took care of it already," Dig stated. "Really surprised you guys don't carry bolt cutters."

"I'll add it to the list," Dean muttered as they set Sam down. He raced through the now unlocked gate and pulled Baby up next to his brother.

They got Sam into the Impala, Oliver laid down in the back, Dig got back into his car and they raced towards Verdant.

_Where the hell did Barry take her? _Oliver silently asked_ He's out of his depth here. Damn it!_


	13. The Harsh Reality

"Are you insane?" Barry shouted at Cynthia while he carried her down the streets of Starling, dodging traffic and people as headed to the closest wilderness area he could find. He figured the chances of too many people having been killed in the forest was a lot less than in Starling or Central. "Why did you do that? They were just talking to you!"

"Who the hell are you?" Cynthia snapped. "Where are we?"

She was still blindfolded and netted, "In the mountains."

"What? The mountains? They're hours away from Starling. Oh, shit. You're him."

"Yeah,"

"You saved me?" An irony filled laugh accompanied her question. "From them? That's rich."

He spotted a lake with an island in the middle that was quickly approaching and changed course. _Running on water, don't know if I'll ever not find this cool. _In less than a second he was across the lake and setting her down on the beach of the island. "You call your ghosts I'll take you somewhere else. I can keep this up all day."

"So?"

"Cynthia, you said that you can get all this amazing information. Why not use all of that for something good? Solving unsolved murders, stopping criminals, something other than selling what you do to the highest bidder?"

"Really?" She scoffed, "Have you told the cops who you are and that you want to help? Last time I checked you were running around in a mask."

"Well, okay, you have a point, but still."

"Still what Streak?"

"It's Flash now," Barry corrected.

"Whatever. First off, just exactly how am I supposed to approach the police? Hmm? Hey, I talk to ghosts and can tell you everything you need to know. Secondly, what I do pays better. Third, what makes you think I give a damn about solving murders?"

"You said the ghosts were your friends," Barry answered, "If you're talking to ones who've been killed you should want to help them."

"Why? It works better for me if they're pissed off. Makes them stronger. The reason I want to kill those hunters is because I feel it every time they take out one of the spirits. It hurts like hell."

The water started lapping higher onto the beach, a high pitched wail began circling around them and the temperature dropped. Barry went to pick her up but something pushed him from behind and his face hit the dirt as a monstrous force started to crush him.

"Look jackass, I was in a coma for three weeks after that accident, I lost my job, my apartment, everything. I had crap insurance and the only member of my family left hated me. She told them to pull the plug, they did and that's when I woke up. I heard them, the spirits, I felt them and realized what I could do. I came back from the dead stronger, better and with something that's made me more money in the last year than I've ever made in my entire life."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blindfold get ripped off Cynthia's face by some invisible force and the netting come loose. She stood up and kicked him in the ribs. "Turns out some divers died just off shore. No one knew where to look for them when they got caught in a storm, same will happen to you." Fog started swirling around her as the air was slowly pushed from his lungs and his ribs started to crack.

_Dean was right, he knew. He just knew. I can't do it, I can't kill her. I have to take her back. _He concentrated on moving the molecules in his body so fast the force couldn't hold him, he slipped away and punched Cynthia, knocking her out cold then picked her up. He ran across the lake to an empty dock, set her down and called Oliver.

"Where the hell are you?" Oliver demanded.

"I had to talk to her and I figured getting her out of there would give you guys time to clear out."

"Well?"

He felt like he was somehow failing Oliver by not being able to do what needed to be done. "Dean was right, but...I."

Oliver's voice immediately went from harsh to understanding, "It's fine. Sam's injured, we're patching him up. Is she still with you?"

"Yeah, I knocked her out. She summoned something from the lake, some dead diver. She wouldn't listen."

"Hold on,"

Barry heard Oliver ask Dean what their next move should be. He couldn't quite make out Dean's reply but Oliver's next words told him everything he needed to know.

"Bring her here, we'll deal with the rest."

"Is that safe?"

"Dean will be outside, he'll handle it. Get going." Oliver hung up.

_How can I do this? Why is everyone else that got hit with the Dark Matter so twisted and I'm not? I'm taking her to her death. Who am I to make that call? What she said, what she can do. Is her life worth the risk? What she attacked me with, if I was a normal person I would have died. She wanted to kill me, kill Sam and Dean. If I let her go, how many lives could she take? Dean was right, what he said, live and death every damn day. I guess I just hadn't realized it yet. The costume, the powers, I got carried away. It's not a game and I need to stop acting like it is._

He picked her up and took the straightest route to the club he could. He didn't bother to go around buildings, he just went up one side and down the other.

Dean was standing next to the Impala with the trunk open and no expression on his face when he got there. "Stick her in there."

Barry looked down and saw a pile of blankets covering the floor of the trunk. "Here?"

"Just do it," Dean ordered.

Barry set her down, Dean pulled out a gun with a silencer on the end and put the barrel against Cynthia's head. "You may want to take off right about now." A hint of compassion weaved it's way through Dean's words.

"No." _This is part of saving people, Joe's had to make this call, so have all the cops I work with. So has Oliver. I can't run from this, no matter how many times I break the sound barrier._

Dean didn't reply. Barry's eyes were glued to the gun. He saw the moment Dean squeezed the trigger, saw the impact of the bullet and watched as Dean pulled the gun away and covered her up. He pulled his eyes away from the trunk as Dean closed the lid and looked at him. _Dean's eyes, they're so empty. Like Oliver's can be. Is that where I'll be in a few years?_

Dean didn't break eye contact with him and Barry got the feeling that Dean was trying to tell him something much more important then what he actually said, "Oliver told me a good place to take her," his voice had gone cold again. "I'll call the cops after I do and report her body so she gets taken care of. They're still patching up Sam. I'll be back in a few." He got in the car leaving Barry alone with the enormity of what he'd just seen. He heard footsteps and looked towards the door. Felicity stood there, holding the door open for him.

"Flash?"

"I need to leave. I'm sorry." He turned and ran. When he got back to Central City he flew through STAR labs, changed back into his clothes and called the man that had always been there for him "Joe?"

"Yeah Barry."

"I need to talk, please."

"Sure thing."


	14. The Aftermath

"Ready Sam?" Dig warned. "I numbed it as much as I could but you know how this goes.

Sam tensed, took a breath, tried to relax, gripped the edges of the table and nodded. Try as he might he couldn't stop the scream that followed a deep, violent wrenching that came from his leg setting off a chain reaction of fiery jolts of pain lancing through him.

"Oh God," he panted while the edges of the metal table bit deeply into his palms.

"Worst part's done. We'll clean it, bandage it and get you to the hospital where they can double check you for skull fractures, stitch you up and get you a tetanus shot. Oliver will cover it."

"I thought you were broke," Sam stated, trying to take his mind off the pain.

"I'm a millionaire now, not a billionaire. It's been a rough adjustment," Oliver quipped as he helped Dig wash out the wound and wrap it. "I prepped for someone taking over the company. Felicity helped."

Sam finally managed to open his eyes and saw Felicity standing by him, worry making her gnaw on her lip. "Where's Flash?" He asked.

"He left. I think he watched what Dean had to do."

"Oh," Sam said, "He came through, did what needed to be done. I wasn't expecting that."

"Don't be fooled by the costume and the age," Oliver said, "He's got what it takes, although I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing."

"Yeah, true," Sam agreed. "We're we ever that young?"

Oliver sighed, "Honestly Sam, I can't even remember anymore."

"It feels like a different life sometimes, that's for sure." Dig answered. "It's weird looking at my daughter and realizing that I was a baby once too, that there was a time in my life when I wasn't putting my life on the line."

"Why do you Dig?" Sam asked. "You've got a family now. Why don't you quit? Oliver wouldn't hold it against you."

"Don't bother Sam, I already tried to talk him out of it. He almost decked me with those huge fists of his."

Dig smiled, "Damn straight I did." He shrugged, "This is who I am. Lyla's job is just as dangerous. It comes back to saving people, doing the right thing. You know how it is. Besides, Oliver wouldn't last a week without me backing him."

Sam laughed, "What about the new guy? The one who the other outfit is for."

Oliver looked at the glass case that held Roy's Arsenal attire, "He's younger than Flash in a lot of ways. He's not nearly experienced enough for me to trust completely, not like Dig is. Enough talk, let's get you to the hospital. I'll text Dean where we're going so he can meet us. Felicity, call Barry, make sure he made it home all right and let me know."

"I'm heading to the hospital too," she replied as she gathered her things. "I'll call Barry on the way."

"Sounds good. Ready Sam?" Sam nodded, Oliver and Dig helped him to the stairs, carried him up and got him into Dig's car. They laid him across the back seat so he could keep his leg more elevated, Oliver got in the passenger seat and they headed out.

Dean reached the abandoned building where Oliver had told him to go. He looked around, didn't see anyone, opened the trunk and looked down. _I feel like I should say something, don't know why. Maybe because she was human, not a real monster, she was just making bad choices. Who the hell am I to kill someone over that? Leaving her like this, in a burnt out building, feels wrong. We do that to vamps, not people. _For some reason image of the charred remains of the Roadhouse came to him. _A lot of good people died that day, died because demons were after us. She was right, we have made a lot of ghosts, most of them are probably angry as hell too. Can't say I blame them. _He sighed, picked up the limp body of a girl he barely even knew and carried her into the building. He moved some rubble and laid her down, as her head rolled towards him her eyes flew open.

"Oh hell no!" He lunged back, drew the gun and fired four shots into her head, three into her heart. She stopped moving again. He waited, his heart pounding as her blood flowed across the ground. His heart slowed and something stirred deep within him. _It's not enough. She could still wake up, right? After all, I've got to make sure the job's done right. Don't I?_

He felt like he was watching himself from a distance, his hand which wasn't his hand picked up a heavy pipe he had pushed out of the way before he laid her down. _This will do nicely._

_No! I don't need to do this._

_Yeah you do Dean, you want to._

_Damn it! No! You're not me. Now back the hell off!_

_Good choice of words, Hell._

He wrenched control of his hand back and threw the pipe into the corner of the room. _I'll finish this the right way bastard, not your way._

He grabbed a small box of salt out of his pocket, poured into on her bloody corpse and stacked as many flammable things around her as he could find. Then he pulled out the matches he always carried and set the pile on fire. Before the smell of burning flesh could hit him, he spun on his heel, pulled his phone out and called 911. "Yeah there's a fire in an abandoned building on 8th and Citrus. Send someone." Then he hung up on the dispatcher and noticed a text from Oliver with the name and address of the hospital they were taking Sam to and that Oliver was covering the bill. He closed the trunk, got back into Baby and drove off.

_Guess I was wrong, she was a monster. Sam's right, I can't be trusted with a gun. When he's up to moving again we're heading home until we figure this out._

About thirty minutes later he was walking into the hospital lobby. He spotted Oliver and Dig as they waited for Sam to get xrays and stitched up. "Thanks for covering this, Oliver," he said as he took a seat across from the two men.

"No problem. Everything cleaned up?"

"Yeah, left it spotless."

Oliver caught the hint that nothing would link back to him or Dean and nodded.

"That new guy handled things well," Dean continued.

Oliver raised an eyebrow, "It's like I told Sam, you can't judge a person by how they look."

"Yeah," A sly grin cleared away some of Dean's down to business mood, "I should have learned that after the last time we were here."

"True."

Dig's phone beeped, he looked at the screen, "It's Lyla, she got called into work. I have to go."

"No worries," Dean said, "I'll take Oliver home."

"Either that or Felicity can," Oliver pointed out, "She went to get some food but should be back soon."

Dig stood up, "Cool. Dean, you and Sam can stay a few days at my place while he recoups. No need to be on the road."

Dean nodded his thanks, "We'll let you know."

"Got it, see you guys later," Dig said as he walked away.

Dean looked back at Oliver and saw the question in his eyes, "What?"

"You're edgy."

"And?"

Oliver shook his head and looked away, "Just letting you know I noticed. You should take Dig up on his offer, could be good for both of you."

"Maybe."

They lapsed into silence. Felicity returned with some local fast food and noticed the mood of the two men, "I brought snacks. We can go to the cafe and eat if you want."

"You guys go ahead," Dean said, "I'm still stuffed from Lyla's lasagna."

Felicity and Oliver took the hint and left.

_I'm not going anywhere until I know he's all right. Besides, I'm in no mood to talk._

He gave it another forty minutes, got up and checked in with the front desk to see what Sam's status was.

"Winchester?" The nurse said, "Yes, he's in recovery. You can go back and see him. I assume you're Dean, Mr. Queen said you would be here."

"Yeah, where is he?"

"Down the hall, take your second right and the nurse at the station will show you to his room."

"Thanks."

Dean followed her directions and the nurse walked him two rooms down. Sam's eyes were closed, there was a large bandage on his leg but he wasn't hooked up to any IV bottles or machines so Dean figured that had to be good sign.

"Hey, you really should learn how to move faster," Dean said as he entered the room.

"Shut up." Sam grumbled as he opened his eyes and gave his brother a weary smile, "Not all of us can get struck by lighting and get super speed."

"So?"

"Another skull fracture and twenty stitches. The xray tech look surprised that my skull is still able to keep my brains from leaking out."

"We Winchesters have hard heads."

"None of us more than you, jerk."

"Oh shut up, you're just as stubborn bitch."

They both smiled.

"They said they want to keep me overnight," Sam continued, "I told them they don't need to. I know all about concussions. The doctor couldn't really dispute that after seeing my xrays and said it was my choice."

Dean shrugged, "Stay, we're in no rush. It wouldn't hurt, especially with that leg. No reason to move just yet."

Sam's brows pulled together as his forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Dean?"

"Later, I promise. Look, just rest up. I'll hang out until they kick me out, crash at Dig's tonight and come get you in the morning. Dig said we could stay at his place a few days while you mend. We could use the break."

Sam knew when not to push, plus they were in a hospital, too many people around to really talk about what was bothering his brother.

"Check with Oliver," Sam requested. "He's footing the tab. An overnight stay may break him now that he's only a millionaire."

Dean laughed, "Got it. They went to eat, you take it easy. I'll grab some food for you and ask him."

"Thanks."

_That leg won't make a road trip all that comfortable for him, he'll need a few days and some serious pain meds. May as well take Dig up on his offer._


	15. The Road Back Home - End

( I thought this ending would be longer but I found that I wanted to get to the brother's ending. So it's short but still filled with feels.)

The brothers spent a total of four more days at Dig's house. Oliver and Felicity came over when they had time, they binged on home cooked food and even helped take care of baby Sara. Felicity told them that Barry seemed to be dealing with what he'd seen but hadn't wanted to talk to her too much so she'd asked the other members of the Central City crew who said he seemed fine. By the evening of the fourth day Dean was getting restless and Sam knew that he'd been avoiding talking about what was really bothering him because other people were always around.

Dean was loading their bags on the morning of the fifth day and Dig joined him on one of his trips.

"Glad you decided to stay," Dig said. "You were looking a bit worse for wear when you showed up."

"Yeah, been a long year. Thanks, we needed it."

They tossed the last of the bags into the trunk, Dean pushed it closed and Dig ran his hand over the back of the car.

"Dean? Why not stay in town for a while longer. You don't have to stay with Lyla and I if you need space but being around something other than hunting and monsters seems to be doing both of you some good. Oliver won't admit it but I know being around my family is helping him find some stability again and you two have had it much worse than he or I ever did."

Dean sighed, leaned against the trunk and looked away, "Because the monsters always find us. You know about Sam and Jessica, I tried to quit too. It ended almost as bad. We've been at this for too long Dig, we've made a lot of enemies who have long memories and even longer life spans. People that care too much about us have a way of dying. It's too much of a risk for your family. We've probably stayed too long as it is." He turned back to Dig and saw the sorrow and understanding in Dig's dark eyes. "Thanks though, it means a lot."

"Well, my door's always open if you're ever back this way." Dig reached his hand out, Dean took it and they exchanged a quick half embrace.

"When we're craving lasagna, we'll call to give you and Lyla time to prep," Dean replied.

"Deal," Dig said with a chuckle.

Dean smiled, "Let's go get my lazy brother moving."

They headed back to Dig's apartment and walked in. Sam was standing using the crutches Dean had got him the morning he picked him up from the hospital.

"Ready?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered, "Oliver called to check in and I told him we were heading out. He said bye, he's in the middle of something or he would have dropped in."

"Cool."

Lyla wrapped her arms around Dean, "Drive safe, let us know when you get home. It was nice to meet both of you."

Dean held her tight for a brief moment then let go, "Thanks for feeding us, that's no easy task. Sam's a bottomless pit."

"Me?" Sam protested, "Look who's talking." Lyla hugged Sam and backed away.

"All right gimpy," Dean said. "Move it."

"Bye guys," Sam said, "Thanks for everything."

Dig nodded and Sam hobbled out the door, Dean followed.

Once they got situated and on the road again Sam looked at Dean, "Now?"

"You were right. It's not safe for me to have a gun. Once we get home we're hitting the books and taking a long break from hunting."

"What happened?"

"It's still there, the not me part of me," Dean looked at his brother and Sam saw there was no walls, no holding back, nothing but pure, bone deep fear. "Sam, I need help."

Sam reached across and briefly gripped Dean's shoulder. "You've got it."

Dean nodded, turned the radio on and they hit the freeway. _Somehow just saying that made me feel better, like I can fight it. We'll get through this. Sam and I always do._

End


End file.
